COSTA MESA (CBSLA) — A couple in their 20s were arrested outside their home in Costa Mesa Sunday night in connection to the 55 Freeway road rage shooting that took the life of 6-year-old Aiden Leos on May 21.
Aiden Leos, center, is seen in this undated photo with his mother, left, and sister, right. (Source: Family photo)
Sources tell CBSLA that 24-year-old Marcus Anthony Eriz and 23-year-old Wynne Lee are boyfriend and girlfriend.
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California Highway Patrol said they expect murder charges against the couple. 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 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.
CBSLA learned that investigators had been watching the couple and followed them from a restaurant before arresting them outside their Costa Mesa home.
“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.”
Leos, who was laid to rest Saturday, sat in the backseat of his mother’s car, on the way to kindergarten, when the shooting incident occurred on the 55 Freeway in the city of Orange. Joanna Cloonan, Aiden’s mother, and the occupants of a white Volkswagen station wagon, allegedly Wynne and Eriz, were involved in the road rage incident over a perceived unsafe lane change, according to CHP.
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 said. It doesn’t bring the little boy back, little Aiden’s gone, but I’m so thankful some justice will be served,” she said.
“Every time I pass the freeway, I want to cry,” said Jessie Palomo, who brought her children, who are near the same age as Aiden, to the memorial. They lit candles and paid their respects.
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“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.”
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