Marcus Eriz, Wynne Lee Arrested In Apparent Road Rage Shooting Death Of 6-Year-Old Aiden Leos
CBSLA learned that investigators had been watching the couple and followed them from a restaurant before arresting them outside their Costa Mesa home.
COSTA MESA, Calif. (CBSLA) — A couple in their 20s were arrested outside their home in Costa Mesa, California Sunday night in connection to the 55 Freeway road rage shooting that took the life of 6-year-old Aiden Leos on May 21. Sources tell CBS Los Angeles that Marcus Anthony Eriz, 24, and Wynne Lee, 23, are boyfriend and girlfriend. Eriz is suspected of being the shooter, while Lee is believed to have been the driver.
A makeshift memorial on the Walnut Avenue overpass of the 55 Freeway in Orange on May 27, 2021 for Aiden Leos. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)
CBSLA learned that California Highway Patrol investigators had placed the couple under surveillance for a long period of time. Officers followed them from a restaurant before arresting them outside their Costa Mesa home.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer told CBSLA that murder charges may be on the table, but that a decision on the exact charges will come in the next 48 hours, after prosecutors have been fully briefed on evidence gathered by CHP investigators.
Law enforcement officials also reported that they know where the suspects’ vehicle is located, as well as the gun used in the shooting and that they are working to secure the firearm.
Family members and pallbearers walk with the casket of Aiden Leos as they leave the Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda following a memorial service on June 5, 2021, in Yorba Linda. (Mark Rightmire/Orange County Register/Getty Images)
“We’ll be and we are as we speak executing search warrants to get additional evidence that we’re going to and want to collect,” Spitzer told reporters Sunday night. “And we’re putting this case together. I feel very, very good about the case.”
A memorial service for Leos was held Saturday.
On the morning of May 21, Leos was in a booster seat in the back of his mother’s Chevrolet Sonic, on his way to kindergarten in Yorba Linda, when the shooting incident occurred on the northbound 55 Freeway in the city of Orange.
Joanna Cloonan, Aiden’s mother was involved in a road rage incident with the occupants of a white Volkswagen station wagon over a perceived unsafe lane change, according to CHP. Detectives believe a woman was driving and a man, who was in the front passenger seat, committed the shooting.
Per sources close to the case, both suspects are being held at the Orange County Jail on $1 million bond each. The reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspects has surpassed $500,000. So far there’s been no word on whether anyone will receive that.
CHP officials said they plan to hold a press conference on Monday.
Cheryl Gish, an O.C. resident, heard news of the arrest and came with her husband to the memorial site for Aiden on the Walnut Avenue overpass above the 55 Freeway.
“I’m thankful that they have somebody in custody,” Gish told CBSLA Sunday. “It doesn’t bring the little boy back, little Aiden’s gone, but I’m so thankful some justice will be served.”
“Every time I pass the freeway, I want to cry,” added Jessie Palomo, who brought her children, who are near the same age as Aiden, to the memorial. They lit candles and paid their respects.
“This is now a place that everyone knows about, sadly, in a sad, tragic way,” Palomo said. “But as a community, we’ve always got to stand together.”