'Gun nut' is charged with murder of Aiden Leos, 6, in road rage attack and has bail set at $2millon while his girlfriend is charged with being getaway driver
A Southern California man has been charged with murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle in a road rage shooting that killed a six-year-old boy last month on a freeway.
Orange County prosecutors on Tuesday charged 24-year-old Marcus Anthony Eriz with murder in the death of Aiden Leos. Eriz's girlfriend, Wynne Lee, was charged with being an accessory after the fact and illegally carrying a concealed firearm.
If convicted, Eriz faces between 40 years to life in prison. Lee faces up to three years in state prison and a year in county jail. Eriz's lawyer tried to ban Tuesday's hearing from being live-streamed on YouTube, claiming the 'unprecedented' global interest in the case could endanger the alleged murderer.
Judge Larry Yellin refused, saying: 'We're not treating Mr. Eriz any differently.'
While other jurisdictions differentiate between first-degree murder, which alleges intent and premeditation, and second-degree murder, which alleges other kinds of premeditated murder, Orange County does not. Hence there is only the charge of murder.
Both were initially scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday for their arraignment but the hearing was pushed back to June 18.
The judge granted prosecutors' request to have provisional bail increased to $2million for Eriz. Bail for Lee was set at $500,000.
Authorities said they believe Lee was driving the car and Eriz fired the shot that killed Leos while his mother was driving the boy to kindergarten on May 21.
Marcus Anthony Eriz is pictured appearing in court via Zoom on Tuesday for a bail hearing over the shooting of Aiden Leos. His bail was set at $2 million
Orange County prosecutors on Tuesday charged 24-year-old Marcus Anthony Eriz with murder in the death of Aiden Leos. Eriz's girlfriend, Wynne Lee, was charged with being an accessory after the fact and illegally carrying a concealed firearm. Both were expected to appear in court on Tuesday. Eriz (left) and his girlfriend Lee (right in mugs) were taken into custody on Sunday over the May 21 shooting death of Aiden Leos
California law enforcement officials have released pictures of the white Volkswagen Golf Sportswagen that was driven by Aiden's killers
Aiden Leos, 6, was fatally shot on his way to kindergarten in Yorba Linda during a horrific road rage incident on the 55 Freeway in Orange last week
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer holds up a photo of Aiden during a news conference outside the California Highway Patrol office in Santa Ana, California on Monday. Spitzer said his office would ask the court to set bail at $2million
Investigators tracked down the two suspects by using enhanced surveillance imaging and dashcam footage of their Volkswagen that is rarely sold in California.
Aiden was shot as his mother drove him to kindergarten on May 21 in Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles.
On Monday, the county's top prosecutor hinted that his office would pursue a murder a charge.
'We're in the process of evaluating the evidence so it would be unfair and potentially prejudicial to put out charges we don't eventually file,' Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said at a news conference on Monday.
'I will say in general that when you shoot at an occupied vehicle with a gun, that's an inherently dangerous act.
'When you put a bullet in someone's car, that's an inherently dangerous act that could result in someone crashing or someone hit by a bullet.'
Law enforcement officials said that Eriz, a gun-toting auto shop worker, and his girlfriend Lee were in a white 2018 Volkswagen Golf SportWagen SE when the shooting took place on the 55 Freeway last month.
Just 140 make and models of that particular Volkswagen have been sold in the state, KTTV-TV reported.
Investigators asked for the public's help in identifying the car believed to have been driven by the suspects by circulating surveillance photos of it.
In the weeks since, officials said they received hundreds of phone calls and emails. Family members, donors, county officials, and local businesses offered rewards totaling $500,000 to anyone with information leading to an arrest.
California Highway Patrol officials said on Monday that they received a tip that purportedly included a photo of the suspect's vehicle.
Investigators used enhanced imaging to zoom in on the license plate, which led them to the couple.
The car, registered to Lee's parents, was found by CHP on Sunday and impounded as evidence, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.
Eriz is pictured in court Tuesday. An arraignment hearing that was set to take place has now been postponed until June 18
The Volkswagen Golf has non-tinted windows and appears to be a 2018 or 2019 model, California Highway Patrol said
Law enforcement officials said they received tips which included a photograph of the vehicle. They used image enhancement to get the vehicle's license plates
A Chevrolet Sonic sits on the shoulder of the northbound 55 freeway north of Chapman Avenue following the shooting on May 21
A California Highway Patrol officer and crime scene investigator retrieve Aiden's mother's purse from the Chevy Cruze sedan with a bullet hole in the hatch
A single bullet hole can be clearly seen following the shooting on May 21
According to investigators, they zeroed in on Eriz and Lee after mapping out their daily commute along the 91 corridor.
The couple could face a murder charge over the road rage shooting which shocked the nation.
According to accounts from the mother and witnesses who stopped to help her, another car cut her off and she responded with a hand gesture and the car slipped in behind her and someone inside fired a shot through the rear of her car.
Highway patrol officials had said the road rage incident stemmed from 'a perceived unsafe lane change.'
CHP Captain Mike Harris said Monday that he spoke to Aiden's mother about the arrests.
Eriz is an auto shop worker whose social media is filled with photos of him showing off his guns and firing them at shooting ranges
'I FaceTimed her,' he said.
'I let her know what had taken place. She was very emotional.'
Eriz and Lee, who were living together as boyfriend and girlfriend, were arrested Sunday in Costa Mesa in Orange County.
Authorities found a gun and car believed to have been used in the shooting but they weren't at the arrest site, CHP Assistant Chief Don Goodbrand said at a Monday news conference.
Neither Eriz or Lee are believed to have prior felony convictions, according to online records.
Eriz appears to be a gun fanatic with his social media filled with photos of him showing off his guns and firing them at shooting ranges.
In one photo, Eriz displayed two handguns and a rifle. In another photo, he showed off his ammunition.
It is not clear what type of firearm was used in the shooting of the six-year-old boy or whether or not it may be any shown in his social media.
Eriz works in an autobody shop, according to jail records and his social media accounts.
Pictured: Aiden Leos and his sister Alexis Cloonan are seen on Alexis's Instagram page and stories
Pictured: Aiden Leos and mother Joanna Cloonan are seen on Alexis's Instagram page and stories
The two remained jailed on $1million bail each and it wasn't immediately clear whether they had attorneys to speak for them.
At least $500,000 in rewards had been offered from all around the country for information leading to an arrest in the case, authorities said.
'We had hundreds of tips from the public, it was extremely helpful,' Goodbrand said, declining to discuss the reward money.
Lee was believed to be driving the car and Eriz was in the front seat and is suspected to be the gunman, said county District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who held up a photograph of Aiden at the news conference.
Spitzer said charges being considered included murder 'for doing a reckless act' that results in death and shooting into an occupied vehicle, which carries a possible sentence of seven years in state prison but with sentencing enhancements could bring 25 years to life.
Spitzer said the little boy killed doing what so many of us do every day - ride on the freeways - gripped the county of 3 million people.
'It's because it could have happened to any one of us,' he said.
Family members of 6-year-old Aiden Leos stand at a makeshift memorial on the Walnut Avenue overpass at the 55 Freeway in Orange on May 25
Uncle John Cloonan comforts Alexis after she told mourners she was 'just thankful' her brother got 'to have a family as beautiful as he is' in the heartfelt tribute
Alexis Cloonan, sister of 6-year-old Aiden Leos cries at the memorial erected on the Walnut Avenue overpass
'We've all gotten upset at other motorists, other motorists have been upset at us,' the DA said.
'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.'
Spitzer noted that boy was buried by the family only hours before the news conference.
'I do want to promise today, when Aiden was put below ground, that we will get justice for him,' Spitzer said.
'We have to promise him that.'
