LOS ANGELES — Charges have been filed against the two suspects in the road rage killing of 6-year-old Aiden Leos on the 55 Freeway last month, the Orange County district attorney’s office announced Tuesday.
The suspected gunman, Marcus Anthony Eriz, 24, has been charged with murder and discharge of a gun into an occupied vehicle, with sentencing enhancements for firing a firearm and causing great bodily injury or death.
Wynne Lee, who authorities say was driving the car, has been charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact and a misdemeanor count of having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. Prosecutors say Lee, 23, concealed the shooting, which led to the accessory charge.
The charges against Eriz mean he could face 40 years to life in prison if convicted, while Lee faces up to three years in prison and one year in jail if convicted of her two charges. The pair are expected to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon.
“Mr. Eriz, if he is convicted on any or both charges, will spend a significant portion of his adult life in prison,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said during a news conference Tuesday.
Based on the evidence, prosecutors could not file murder charges against Lee at this time, Spitzer said, noting that her actions after the shooting — and not any conduct before — led to the charges against her.
The couple were taken into custody Sunday at their home in Costa Mesa, more than two weeks after Aiden was fatally shot while riding in a booster seat in the back of his mother’s car. The boy was struck by a bullet in an apparent act of road rage on the Orange County freeway, authorities said.
Bail had initially been set at $1 million each for Eriz and Lee. Spitzer said prosecutors will present arguments that Eriz’s bail should be increased to $2 million and that Lee’s should be dropped to $500,000.
“We would not file these charges unless we could prove them beyond a reasonable doubt,” Spitzer said, adding that he’s “absolutely convinced” they are “rock solid.”
Spitzer also noted that there is no evidence that any other people were involved in the fatal shooting. He called on the community not to harass the suspects’ relatives or other residents at their residences.
On the morning of May 21, Aiden’s mother, Joanna Cloonan, told motorist Reyes Valdivia that she and her son were in the carpool lane when another car cut her off as she started switching lanes to exit.
She made an obscene gesture toward the people inside the other car and continued trying to get off the freeway.
Officials think the driver of the car that cut off Cloonan then maneuvered the vehicle behind her car and one of the people inside fired a gun at her vehicle.
A bullet entered Cloonan’s car from the rear, striking her son through his back.
She pulled over and took the bleeding boy into her arms until paramedics arrived. Doctors could not save him.
“It could’ve happened to any one of us,” Spitzer said while holding up a photograph of Aiden during a news conference Monday. “We all drive the freeways of Southern California. We’ve all gotten upset at other motorists, other motorists have gotten upset at us. I’ve thrown some gestures about myself. But it’s never come to a situation of violence and certainly not in my realm or your realm, to the loss of a life.”
Louis Shapiro, a criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles, said Monday that Spitzer was more likely to file a second-degree murder charge, which requires the prosecution to demonstrate to a jury that the shooter “acted deliberately with conscious disregard for human life.”
Authorities think Lee was driving that day and Eriz fired the shot that killed Aiden. Neither of the suspects nor their attorneys could be reached for comment.
Shapiro said it would be difficult to prove first-degree murder because the shooting does not appear to have been premeditated.
California Highway Patrol officials said Monday they had recovered the gun and the vehicle used in the shooting. A source with the agency said that the car, a white 2018 Volkswagen Golf SportWagen SE, was in the garage of a Whittier home belonging to one of Eriz’s relatives and that the relative has been away from the home.
CHP Border Division Assistant Chief Donald Goodbrand said Tuesday that there are about 20,000 such cars in the immediate four-county area and that investigators were able to narrow that number down to about 130.
Other details have emerged about Eriz and Lee in the days since their arrest.
Eriz grew up in Weaverville near Redding, with family in the Whittier area. He often shared content on social media about cars and guns. He posted several pictures and videos of himself shooting an array of assault-style rifles and pistols outdoors and at a shooting range. One of the weapons he displayed was capable of delivering the shot that killed Aiden, officials said.
Spitzer on Tuesday said he believed the gun was registered to Eriz, but did not say where it was recovered.
Eriz worked at an auto body shop in Corona and reportedly left in January, but in recent weeks, he texted and asked for his job back, his former boss told KCBS-TV. Investigators said that he changed his appearance after the shooting, shaving off a large black beard that had been seen in many of his Instagram photos.
Lee grew up in Diamond Bar, where she attended Diamond Bar High School and Mount San Antonio College.
Surveillance, investigation and tips all played a part in identifying Eriz and Lee, officials said. But Spitzer said officials could not discuss the specific investigation techniques or surveillance.
The process began shortly after the shooting with investigators circulating an image of the white vehicle said to belong to the suspects.
In the weeks that followed, officials received hundreds of calls and emails, they said. A reward funded by family members, donations, county officials and local businesses climbed to $500,000.
Officials are still reviewing the potential distribution of that reward. Spitzer said it is contingent upon both an arrest and a conviction.
Calling it an “intensive manhunt,” Goodbrand said several agencies, including the CHP, the Orange County district attorney’s office and other law enforcement officials and leadership in Orange County and Southern California helped with the case.
“Never in my 25-year career have I witnessed those components work together so strongly to solve a crime as I have during this investigation,” he said.
Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, whose office contributed $50,000 to the reward fund, thanked the community for its support.
“This is a crime that obviously grabbed the heartstrings of the community and allowed us to come together in some effort toward healing,” he said. “It allowed us to collectively say we will pursue justice in this county.”
