Who was Aiden Leos? 6-year-old’s heartbreaking final words revealed after being shot in road rage incident
ORANGE, CALIFORNIA: A boy who lost his life during an alleged road rage incident has been identified. Aiden Leos, 6, died on Friday morning, May 21, after being hit with a bullet while sitting in his car booster seat on a Southern California freeway. He was reportedly being driven to school by his mother -- whose name has not been released -- when an enraged motorist fired at their car.
As per reports, Leos’ mother, who was driving the family car, was aggressively overtaken by another driver while traveling in the carpool lane of the northbound side of State Route 55, in the city of Orange. In response, the mother showed the finger in her rearview mirror, which was apparently not taken well by the motorist, who began firing and killed the child. It has been said that after being hit by the bullet, Leos’ final words were “Mommy my tummy hurts!” as his mother stopped the vehicle on the side of the road and protected him in her arms until an off-duty cop pulled over to perform CPR and paramedics reached for help. Later, he was declared dead at Children's Hospital Orange County.
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While pleading for help to find the culprits, the devastated sister of the child, Alexis Cloonan, during a family press conference on Friday, said: “She had blood on her clothes and he started turning blue and that's when the ambulance took him and that was the last time my mom saw him alive. Please help us find the people that did this to my little brother. He's only six and he was so sweet. He was a very loving boy so please help us find who did this to him. [My mom] had to hold her little boy as he died so she is very distraught right now. He was a rare toddler. I just loved having him in my life.”
A family is asking for the public’s help in identifying the suspects who shot and killed 6-year-old Aiden. The little boy was with his mother, driving to school on the 55 freeway in Orange, when they were shot at during an apparent road rage incident. https://t.co/Sr1hYV5n88 pic.twitter.com/fVvfNkfZl6
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) May 22, 2021
According to reports, the tragedy happened around 8:10 in the morning when the youngster was being taken to the kindergarten class at Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda by his mother. A man and a woman are believed to have been involved in the crime. It has been reported that the man fired the bullets while the woman was supposedly driving a newer model of a white Volkswagen wagon sedan. The suspects have not been identified yet.
Leos’ uncle John Cloonan said, “You can tell it was a cowardly way of doing it because they shot her in the back pretty much. You have no idea what you took from us today. You took her son away, her boy. This boy was full of love and joy and laughter. I hope someone knows something and that whoever did this, I hope you can see what you've done to this family. Not that it matters much now because my nephew is dead. We're never going to be full again. She [Aiden's mother] was merging to the right side to get away from this person, and as you can see if you go online and look at the photos, there's one bullet shot in the trunk that went through the trunk and right through my nephew.”
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe has been launched to help the grieving family. The message on it states, “I’m reaching out to the public to help Aidens mother pay for burial costs, replace her car and living expenses while she is not able to work. Six year old Aiden was tragically killed in a road rage incident in Orange, CA on 5/21/21 and died in his mother’s arms as the suspect was aiming for her! This is my granddaughter in the photo and Aiden is her brother. Thank you for your loving support.”