The California man accused of shooting dead a 6-year-old boy in the back of his mother’s car during a fit of road rage has been convicted of second-degree murder.
An Orange County jury reached a verdict Thursday in the trial of Marcus Anthony Eriz, 26, who was found guilty of killing Aiden Leos as his mother drove him to school on the 55 Freeway.
The Costa Mesa man was also found guilty of causing great bodily injury and death and shooting at an occupied vehicle. He will be sentenced on April 12 and faces up to 40 years in prison.
According to the testimony of Aiden’s mother, Joanna Cloonan, who took the stand Monday, a Volkswagen SportWagen ‘swerved out of the carpool lane’ and in front of her car as they headed down the freeway in May 2021.
After cutting her off, Eriz’s girlfriend Wynne Lee – who was driving – flashed a ‘peace sign.’
‘I didn’t want to be near these people,’ Cloonan said. ‘I left the carpool lane. We were next to each other. I made a gesture. And I started to merge away from them.’
Marcus Eriz Anthony has been found guilty in the shooting death of six-year-old Aiden Leos, who was killed in May 2021 as his mother drove him to school
Aiden’s mother, Jessica Cloonan, testified Monday that she briefly made eye contact with Eriz, who smiled at her after she gave him and his girlfriend the finger for cutting in front of her
The preschooler (pictured with Cloonan, left, and sister Alexis, right) was pronounced dead at the hospital after a bullet tore through his liver, lung and heart
Eriz (pictured at the time of his arrest in 2021) was found guilty of second-degree murder Thursday. His girlfriend, Wynne Lee, was driving the car at the time of the incident and has a pretrial hearing scheduled for next month
The ‘gesture,’ she acknowledged, was the middle finger – one that prosecutors said she would ‘regret beyond comprehension.’
Cloonan testified that she briefly made eye contact with Eriz, who sat in the passenger seat. ‘He looked at me and smiled after the gesture,’ she said.
Moments later, she heard an impact, followed by her son crying out. She turned around and saw him slumped over.
Cloonan pulled over and frantically called 911. An off-duty police officer and paramedics tried to save her little boy, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Investigators later determined a bullet tore through the trunk of the Chevrolet Sonic before entering Aiden’s body, piercing his liver, lung and heart.
The six-year-old was killed just 10 days after his birthday.
Cloonan, who burst into tears once the prosecution displayed a photo of her six-year-old son, denied ever posing a danger to the couple.
Eriz readily admitted to his role in Aiden’s death during a police interrogation.
‘We went in front of that lady, the lady came up to us and started acting hostile toward us,’ Eriz told police. ‘I don’t know why, I have no answer why, but I pulled out my Glock and pulled the trigger and it was gone.’
The Costa Mesa man was also found guilty of causing great bodily injury and death and shooting at an occupied vehicle
Eriz told investigators during an interrogation that he only learned he was responsible for the boy’s death a week after the shooting, but did not turn himself in as he did not want Lee to get in trouble
Cloonan testified that she heard something hit her car (pictured) before Aiden cried out. When she turned around, the little boy was slumped over
As authorities embarked on a two-week manhunt for Aiden’s killer, they say Eriz hid the vehicle in a relative’s garage and changed his appearance
Lee (pictured at a 2022 hearing) flashed a peace sign at Cloonan after cutting her off on the freeway, prompting Cloonan to give her the finger
Lee, who was 23 at the time of her arrest, faces one felony count of being an accessory after the fact and one misdemeanor count of having a concealed weapon. She is being tried separately
Of his motives, the 26-year-old said: ‘I don’t have an answer. Because I’m stupid? I didn’t think of the consequences or anyone.’
Eriz told investigators he only learned he was responsible for the boy’s death a week after the shooting.
But he decided not to turn himself in as he thought Lee, who was 23 at the time, did nothing wrong.
The pair were arrested after a two-week manhunt. During that time, authorities say Eriz stashed the car in a relative’s garage, shaved his beard and changed his hairstyle.
Lee, who is being tried separately, was charged with one felony count of being an accessory after the fact and one misdemeanor count of having a concealed firearm.
Her pretrial hearing is scheduled for February 9.
‘Six-year-old boys should be playing outside in the sunshine, soaking in all the magic and wonder that is boyhood, not lying dead in a tiny, child-size coffin because a man he never met decided to execute him for no conceivable reason,’ Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a press release.
‘While we will never know what Aiden would have become, we know that the pursuit of justice did not end until his killer was captured and this child murderer was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
‘The bullet not only killed a little 6-year-old boy; it ripped a hole in the heart of all of Orange County.’