Opening statements are set to begin Thursday morning for the trial of Marcus Eriz, a 26-year-old Costa Mesa man accused of murder in the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old boy during a road-rage encounter in 2021.
The shooting occurred on May 21, 2021, when 6-year-old Aiden Leos’s mother, Joanna Cloonan of Costa Mesa, was driving him to kindergarten on the 55 Freeway in Orange around 8 a.m. Cloonan told investigators she was cut off and almost struck by a Volkswagen Golf SportWagen that was allegedly being driven by Eriz’s girlfriend, Wynne Lee, also 26.
During a preliminary hearing last year, a California Highway Patrol investigator recounted an interview with the child’s mother, who said Lee flashed her a “peace sign” when Cloonan angrily flipped off Lee while the then 24-year-old Eriz was in the passenger seat, before passing them near Chapman Avenue. Prosecutors allege that Eriz then took out a gun and shot at Cloonan’s car.
The mother told the investigator she heard a loud sound hit her car window, possibly from a rock or object, followed by Aiden saying “ow.” Cloonan pulled over to the side of the road and found her 6-year-old son bleeding from his chest. He died shortly after.
Eriz, who is facing murder and firearm charges, will be tried separately from Lee, who prosecutors have accused of being an accessory after the fact. The couple was arrested June 6, 2021, in their Costa Mesa home, following over a two week manhunt. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Authorities were tipped off to the couple’s whereabouts after an undisclosed tipster, who claimed to be a co-worker, tied the pair to Lee’s car, which matched the description of the vehicle investigators had been searching for. The individual also told authorities that the couple began driving to their Highland workplace in a different car, and that Eriz had changed his appearance by shaving off his beard.
Eriz may face up to 40 years or life in prison if convicted of felony counts of murder and discharging a firearm at an occupied vehicle, with additional gun enhancements. Lee is scheduled to return to court Feb. 9 on charges of being an accessory to a crime and storing a concealed firearm in a vehicle. If convicted, she faces up to three years in state prison and a year in county jail.
