A road rage killer who shot dead a six-year-old boy on a California freeway after the child’s mother gave him the middle finger was sentenced to 40 years to life on Friday.
Marcus Eriz, 27, was sentenced in the Orange County Superior Court for murdering Aiden Leos in May 2021, when the boy was being taken to kindergarten on Freeway 55 in Orange County.
In January, Eriz was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder and shooting at an occupied motor vehicle.
In a tearful apology, the killer addressed Aiden’s family and the rest of the court before being led away in handcuffs.
‘I would like to start by saying that Aiden looked like a beautiful, precious, sweet, and happy little boy,’ Eriz said.
Aiden Leos (pictured) was killed while being taken by his mother to kindergarten
Marcus Eriz (seen here reading his apology statement to the courtroom) fired his Glock in a fit of anger. His girlfriend, Wynne Lee, was driving and had cut off Aiden’s mother, who then gave them the middle finger. Eriz responded by firing his gun. His bullet travelled through the trunk of the car before striking Aiden in the chest
Aiden’s mother testified that she heard something hit her car (pictured) before Aiden cried out. When she turned around, the little boy was slumped over
He continued: ‘He was a son, a brother, and a friend to others. He looked as if he brightened up the world everywhere he went, and truly one of God’s little angels’.
At this point Eriz’s voice began to crack and he adjusted his glasses.
‘I am so sorry for ever hurting him and for the pain that he went through because of me. He never deserved it and neither did his family’.
On May 21, 2021, Joanna Cloonan was taking her son Aiden Leos to kindergarten, when a white Volkswagen SportWagen cut her off in the carpool lane.
According to Cloonan’s testimony, after cutting her off, Eriz’s girlfriend, Wynne Lee, who was driving the vehicle, flashed a ‘peace sign’ at her.
‘I didn’t want to be near these people,’ Cloonan recounted. ‘I left the carpool lane. We were next to each other. I made a gesture. And I started to merge away from them’.
That ‘gesture’ was the middle finger, and it was a gesture that Cloonan ‘would regret beyond comprehension,’ as one prosecutor put it.
Cloonan further testified that after she gave Eriz and Lee the middle finger, she made eye contact with Eriz, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
‘He looked at me and smiled after the gesture,’ Cloonan said.
Mere moments later, she heard an impact, followed by her son Aiden crying out. She turned around and saw the six-year-old boy slumped over in his seat.
The distressed mother swerved over to the side of the road and dialed 911 as she cradled her bleeding child.
An off-duty police officer and paramedics desperately tried to save the boy, but he was later pronounced dead at the hospital, just ten days after his sixth birthday.
The kindergartener (pictured with Cloonan, left, and sister Alexis, right) was pronounced dead at the hospital after a bullet tore through his liver, lung and heart
Wynne Lee, who was driving the car and cut off Aiden’s mother, is being tried separately. She has pled not guilty to being an accessory after the fact
Investigators determined that Eriz’s bullet crashed through the trunk of the Chevrolet Sonic before entering Aiden’s body, piercing his liver, lung, and heart.
A two week manhunt followed, over the course of which Eriz and his girlfriend refused to turn themselves in. They hid the white Volkswagen in a relative’s garage. Eriz altered his appearance, shaving his beard and changing his hairstyle.
Ultimately, authorities were able to enhance a blurry image of the vehicle’s license plate, and they received many tips from the community.
This helped them track the culprits down, and they surveilled the couple at their Costa Mesa home prior to arresting them.
Once arrested, Eriz, an autoworker, whose social media accounts are littered with pictures of him shooting guns, readily admitted to the crime.
He claimed not to have known of the murder until a week later, when a co-worker remarked that Eriz’s girlfriend’s car resembled the one authorities were looking for.
The autoworker told investigators: ‘We went in front of that lady, the lady came up to us and started acting hostile toward us’.
‘I don’t know why, I have no answer why, but I pulled out my Glock and pulled the trigger and it was gone’.
Pressed by police for a motive, Eriz said with candor: ‘I don’t have an answer. Because I’m stupid? I didn’t think of the consequences or anyone’.
The 27-year-old told investigators he had decided not to turn himself in because he thought that his girlfriend, Wynne Lee, had done nothing wrong.
Lee, whose online presence is scant, is the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants. She was raised in the San Gabriel Valley and is thought to be unemployed.
She is being tried separately and has pled not guilty to being an accessory after the fact.
Neither Eriz nor Lee are thought to have any previous felony convictions.
On Friday, Eriz was sentenced to 40 years to life for the murder of Aiden Leos.
Judge Richard King did not mince his words, describing Aiden, a boy being taken to kindergarten by his mom, as ‘the most vulnerable victim you can even imagine’.
Of Eriz’s subsequent fit of rage, Judge King said: ‘In that particular moment, you had the power and the power was that handgun’.
Eriz is seen in a social media photo holding a rifle. The 27-year-old autoworker’s social media accounts are rife with pictures of him with guns
Judge Richard King wasn’t softened by the defendant’s arguments. He said that when Eriz fired the gun, he had wanted to ‘get back’ at the victim’s mother. Jude King sentenced Eriz to 40 years to life on Friday
The judge continued: ‘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’.
Judge King went on to say that he did not think there was any ‘justification’ for Eriz responding in such a matter. He said that the autoworker merely wanted to ‘get back’ at Aiden’s mother.
Before announcing the 40 years to life sentence, the judge said gravely: ‘I don’t think the English language can even attempt for anybody to even describe what Aiden’s mother went through’.
‘She pulls over and her little boy dies in her arms. I don’t think anybody can even comprehend what the rest of her life is going to be’.