An Orange County man was found guilty of shooting and killing a 6-year-old boy who was being driven to his kindergarten in the backseat of his mother’s car on a Southern California freeway.
Marcuz Eriz, 26, was convicted of one felony count of murder, one felony count of shooting into an occupied vehicle, and two felony enhancements of the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury and death. He faces a maximum sentence of 40 years to life in state prison.
Aiden Leos was killed May 21, 2021 in a car-to-car shooting that followed a confrontation on the 55 Freeway in Orange County. A shot was fired after Eriz’s girlfriend behind the wheel cut off Aiden's mother, who responded by displaying the middle finger, authorities said.
The grieving mother had testified Eriz smiled at her shortly before he rolled down the passenger side window and fired his weapon.
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“The heartbreak of a parent losing a child is so overwhelming that no word exists to describe it,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement shortly after the verdicts were read. “While we will never know what Aiden would have become, we know that the pursuit of justice did not end until his killer was captured, and this child murderer was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Eriz's girlfriend, Wynne Lee, has been charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact and one misdemeanor count of having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. She faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison and one year in the Orange County Jail if convicted on all charges.
During closing statements Wednesday, a prosecutor reiterated to jurors that Eriz had intended to hurt someone when he pulled out his weapon from the backseat of the car. Police interrogation video showed Eriz had told police that he was carrying around a loaded 9mm Glock pistol for months because people were “acting crazy” on roadways.
“[Aiden’s mom] vented her frustration by giving him the finger. That was it: the problem that Mr. Eriz had planned for, the problem Mr. Eriz was waiting for,” said Daniel Feldman, a Senior Deputy District Attorney of Orange County. “This wasn’t a situation where he didn’t have a choice. This was all his choice.”
In response, Eriz's defense attorney, Randall Bethune, argued he had a "violent emotion."
For days after the shooting, authorities searched for a suspect and pleaded for the public's help. They sifted through hundreds of tips and at least half a million dollars in reward money was posted.
According to police, Eriz stashed the vehicle in a relative's garage, shaved his beard and began pulling back his hair.
Eriz and his girlfriend were arrested outside their apartment in Costa Mesa about two weeks after the shooting. Eriz and girlfriend Wynne Lee, who is charged with being an accessory after the fact and having a concealed firearm in the vehicle, are being tried separately.
