SANTA ANA – A man who opened fire at a car during a road-rage confrontation on the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway, killing a 6-year-old boy who was strapped in a child seat as his mother drove him to kindergarten in Yorba Linda, was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life in prison.
Marcus Anthony Eriz, 26, of Costa Mesa, was convicted in January of second-degree murder and firing at an occupied vehicle for the deadly May 21, 2021, shooting on the freeway that killed Aiden Leos. Jurors also found true allegations of personal use of a handgun.
Co-defendant Wynne Lee, 26, Eriz’s girlfriend, is awaiting trial for being an accessory after the fact. Eriz was a passenger in the car driven by Lee when the shooting occurred.
Courtesy Cloonan Family
Aiden’s mother, Joanna Cloonan, was driving her Chevrolet Sonic with the child strapped into a child seat in the back seat of the vehicle, taking the boy to kindergarten in Yorba Linda. At about 8 a.m., Cloonan and her son were cut off by the defendants in a Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen with Lee behind the wheel of the car. Lee made a peace sign, which Cloonan took as sarcastic, and a few miles later as Cloonan was merging over to the Riverside (91) Freeway east she passed the defendants and gave them a middle finger, Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Feldman said during opening statements of the trial.
The defendants then positioned their car behind Cloonan’s, and Eriz fired a shot from a 9mm Glock that struck the Chevrolet, went into the passenger compartment and struck the boy.
Cloonan, who was northbound on the freeway, heard a loud bang that sounded like a rock striking her vehicle followed by her son’s cry, Feldman said. She immediately pulled over, the prosecutor added.
Her son, who had turned 6 a week and a half before the shooting, was bleeding from a bullet that ripped through his liver, lungs and his heart before coming out of his abdomen, Feldman said. The boy died in her arms.
Lee and Eriz, who lived together in a Costa Mesa apartment, were driving to their workplace at Gerber Glass, a collision repair shop, Feldman said. Eriz kept his loaded 9 mm gun in the car.
During the sentencing hearing, Eriz issued an emotional apology to Cloonan and her family, referring to Aiden as “a son, a little brother and a friend to others,” as well as “truly one of God’s little angels.”
“I am so sorry for ever hurting him, and the pain he went through because of me,” Eriz said.
He later added, “Ms. Cloonan, I am truly sorry.”
Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard King acknowledged Eriz’s apology, but said he killed “the most vulnerable victim that you can even imagine” — a 6-year-old boy in the back seat of his mother’s car, going to school.
“She, the mom, did some driving maneuver that caused your girlfriend to give the peace sign, that caused the mom to flip (you) off, that caused you to get behind the car,” the judge said. “And in that particular moment, you had the power. And the power was that handgun. And whether it was to impress your girlfriend, to release your anger, you fired. And that little boy died. When all is said and done, that’s what happened in this case.”
