A California Woman Flipped Off a Driver. Then, the Other Driver Opened Fire and Killed Her 6-Year-Old Son.

A man has been sentenced in the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old boy during a road rage incident in California in 2021, according to authorities..

On June 6, 2021, police detained Marcus Anthony Eriz, 24, and Wynne Lee, 23, at their Costa Mesa home. According to the California Highway Patrol, the two were charged with the murder of Aiden Leos.

As FrontPageDetectives previously reported, around 8 a.m. on May 21, 2021, Joanna Cloonan was driving her son to kindergarten on State Route 55 in the city of Orange when a white sedan cut her off.

“As I started to merge away from them, I heard a really loud noise,” the mother previously recalled in an interview with Good Morning America. “And my son said, ‘Ow,’ and I had to pull over. I took him out of the car and I tried to put my hand on his wounds while calling 911 because he was losing a lot of blood.”

A single bullet struck Leos in the abdomen, and the boy died from his injuries.

“I felt so honored to be Aiden’s mommy,” Cloonan said, the Associated Press reported.

Cloonan also noted: “I want nothing more than to find justice, though it won’t bring you back into my arms. My precious son had his life ripped away for absolutely no reason.”

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On Jan. 25, the Orange County District Attorney's Office announced that Eriz was found guilty on counts of second-degree murder and shooting into an occupied vehicle, both with felony enhancements of personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury and death.

On April 12, 2024, a judge sentenced Eriz to the maximum possible sentence of 40 years to life in prison, NBC News reported.

At his sentencing hearing, Eriz talked about the victim, saying, “He was a son, a little brother and a friend to others. He looked as if he brightened up the world everywhere he went and truly one of God’s little angels. And I am so sorry for ever hurting him, and for the pain that he went through because of me. He never deserved it. And neither did his family."

Lee has been charged with one count of accessory after the fact and one count of having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. She is still awaiting trial and faces three years in state prison and a year in the Orange County Jail if she’s convicted on both charges.