A killer who shot and killed a six-year-old boy on a California highway after the boy’s mother gave him the middle finger was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life in prison.
Marcus Eriz, 27, was sentenced in Orange County Superior Court for murdering Aiden Leos in May 2021, as the boy was being taken to kindergarten on Highway 55 in Orange County.
In January, Eriz was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder and shooting into 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’d like to start by saying that Aiden seemed like a beautiful, precious, sweet, happy little boy,” Eriz said.
Aiden Leos (pictured) was killed while his mother was taking him to kindergarten.
Marcus Eriz (seen here reading his apology statement to the court) fired his Glock in a fit of rage. His girlfriend, Wynne Lee, was driving and had interrupted Aiden’s mother, who then gave them the middle finger. Eriz responded by firing his gun. His bullet passed through the trunk of the car before hitting Aiden in the chest.
Aiden’s mother testified that she heard something hit her car (pictured) before Aiden screamed. When she turned around, the boy was slumped over.
He continued: ‘He was a son, a brother and a friend to others. He seemed as if he lit up the world wherever he went, and he truly was one of God’s little angels.
At that moment Eriz’s voice began to crack and she adjusted her glasses.
‘I am so sorry for ever hurting you and for the pain you suffered 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 him off in the carpool lane.
According to Cloonan’s testimony, after cutting her off, Eriz’s girlfriend, Wynne Lee, who was driving the vehicle, gave her a “peace sign.”
“I didn’t want to be around these people,” Cloonan said. ‘I left the shared lane. We were next to each other. I made a gesture. And I started to get away from them.’
That “gesture” was the middle finger, and it was a gesture Cloonan would “regret beyond comprehension,” as one prosecutor put it.
Cloonan further testified that after giving the middle finger to Eriz and Lee, he made eye contact with Eriz, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
“He looked at me and smiled after the gesture,” Cloonan said.
Moments later, she heard an impact, followed by her son Aiden’s scream. She turned around and saw the six-year-old boy slumped in his seat.
The distraught mother pulled to the side of the road and dialed 911 while cradling her bleeding son.
An off-duty police officer and paramedics desperately tried to save the boy, but he was later pronounced dead in hospital, just ten days after his sixth birthday.
The kindergartner (pictured with Cloonan, left, and his sister Alexis, right) was pronounced dead at the hospital after a bullet passed through his liver, lungs and heart.
Wynne Lee, who was driving the car and cut off Aiden’s mother, is being tried separately. She has pleaded not guilty to being an accessory to the crime.
Investigators determined that Eriz’s bullet passed through the trunk of the Chevrolet Sonic before entering Aiden’s body, passing through his liver, lung and heart.
A two-week manhunt followed, during which Eriz and his girlfriend refused to surrender. They hid the white Volkswagen in a relative’s garage. Eriz altered his appearance, shaved his beard and changed his hairstyle.
In the end, authorities were able to improve a blurry image of the vehicle’s license plate and received many tips from the community.
This helped them locate the culprits and they surveilled the couple at their Costa Mesa home before arresting them.
Once arrested, Eriz, an auto worker whose social media accounts are filled with photos of him shooting guns, readily admitted to the crime.
He claimed not to have found out about the murder until a week later, when a co-worker commented that Eriz’s girlfriend’s car looked like the one authorities were looking for.
The auto worker told investigators, “We went in front of that lady, the lady approached us and started acting hostile towards us.”
“I don’t know why, I have no answer why, but I pulled out my Glock, pulled the trigger and it was gone.”
Pressed by police about the motive, Eriz said candidly: ‘I don’t have an answer. Because I’m stupid? I didn’t think about the consequences or anyone.’
The 27-year-old man told investigators he decided not to turn himself in because he thought his girlfriend, Wynne Lee, had done nothing wrong.
Lee, whose online presence is sparse, is the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants. She grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and is believed to be unemployed.
She is being tried separately and has pleaded not guilty to being an accessory after the fact.
Neither Eriz nor Lee are believed to have prior felony convictions.
On Friday, Eriz was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for the murder of Aiden Leos.
Judge Richard King pulled no punches, describing Aiden, a boy his mother takes to kindergarten, as “the most vulnerable victim you could imagine.”
Of Eriz’s subsequent fit of rage, Judge King said: “At that particular moment, you had the power and the power was that gun.”
Eriz is seen in a social media photo holding a rifle. The 27-year-old auto worker’s social media accounts are littered with photos of him with firearms.
Judge Richard King did not relent on the defendant’s arguments. He said that when Eriz fired the gun, he wanted to “get revenge” on the victim’s mother. Jude King sentenced Eriz to 40 years to life in prison on Friday
The judge continued: ‘Whether to impress your girlfriend to release your anger, you shot and that child died. “At the end of the day, that’s what happened.”
Judge King went on to say that he did not believe there was any “justification” for Eriz to respond in such a matter. He said the auto worker simply wanted “revenge” on Aiden’s mother.
Before announcing the sentence of 40 years to life in prison, the judge said grimly: “I don’t think the English language can even attempt to describe what Aiden’s mother went through.”
‘She stops and her little boy dies in her arms. I don’t think anyone can even understand what the rest of her life will be like.”