Marcus Eriz was found guilty of homicide in an Orange County, California, hit-and-run accident that killed 6-year-old Aidan Leos in 2021.
Eriz was convicted of second-degree murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and two felony counts of discharging a firearm causing great bodily injury and death.
“While we will never know what Aiden would have become, we do know that the pursuit of justice will not end until his killer is caught and this child killer is prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer in a statement following the sentencing.
Eriz will be sentenced on April 12. The 26-year-old faces 40 years to life in prison.
On May 21, 2021, just 10 days after his birthday, Leos was shot and killed while sitting in his booster seat while his mother, Joanna Cloonan, was driving him to kindergarten in Yorba Linda.
During Cloonan’s testimony this month, she said she and her son were on Interstate 55 when a white Volkswagen SportWagen suddenly cut her off while she was in the carpool lane driving north, according to the ABC station in Los Angeles KABC.
Cloonan reportedly said she pulled out of the carpool lane to avoid being behind the car and flashed the middle finger in response to being cut off. A man in a VW then opens fire through the back of Cloonan’s car, hitting Aiden in the back seat.
After a week-long manhunt, authorities arrested Marcus Eriz, then 24, and his girlfriend, Winn Lee, then 23, at their home in Costa Mesa, Calif., on June 6, 2021, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Investigators later determined that Lee was driving and Eriz shot at Cloonan’s car on that fateful day.
Lee was subsequently charged with being an accessory after the fact and having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 9. Lee remains free under GPS monitoring on $100,000 bail.
“They took my son’s life,” Cloonan told ABC News in an interview with “Good Morning America” in 2021. “He was beautiful and kind and precious, and you killed him for no reason. And I want you to find them and I want justice for my son.”
During his testimony in January 2024, Cloonan tearfully recalled the Leos’ final moments after their car was shot up.
“I heard a noise that sounded like a big rock hitting the car,” Cloonan said during the trial, according to KABC-TV. “I heard my son say, ‘Oh!’ I looked behind me and his head was hanging down.”
Cloonan emotionally explained how she tried to save Leos’ life but could tell her young son was “dying very quickly”.
“I immediately pulled over to the side of the highway. I tried to get him out of the car seat. I noticed it was dying very quickly. I put my hand on his stomach. I put him close to my body to try to save his life and called 911,” she said, according to KABC.
During her testimony, Cloonan revealed how she discovered exactly what happened during the fatal accident and that a gunshot to her car claimed her son’s life.
“I remember being surrounded. I couldn’t see what was going on with him. I looked at the back of my car and saw a hole. And I asked a man, “Is that a bullet hole? Is that what happened?’ And he said, ‘It seems so.’
Leos was taken to Children’s Hospital of Orange County, where he was later pronounced dead.
When Cloonan was shown a photo of Leos during her testimony, she broke down in tears, according to KABC.
During the trial — which began in Orange County on Jan. 18 — prosecutors released a recording of Eriz’s initial interview with authorities, according to KABC.
Eriz reportedly admitted that “for some reason” after Cloonen gave him and Lee the middle finger, he reached into the back seat of their vehicle, pulled out his gun and fired at Cloonen’s car.
Asked what was the motive behind the attack, he reportedly said: “I have no answer. Because I’m stupid. I haven’t thought of anything. I didn’t think about the consequences or anyone else.’
Eriz claimed he could not remember whether he shot at her car from inside his own vehicle or from the passenger door window. Eriz said he didn’t target himself intentionally, according to KABC.
