Aiden Leos shooting: Car involved in road rage incident identified, suspects asked to turn themselves in
Aiden Leos was killed in what the police are terming an "isolated road rage incident", even as they released an image of the car which they say was driven by the suspects. On May 21, the 6-year-old was traveling with his mother to school when he was shot dead by someone in the car after his mother, Joanna Cloonan, had shown them the finger in the rearview mirror as they tried to overtake her in the carpool lane of the northbound side of State Route 55, in the city of Orange.
Now, the car involved in the incident has been identified by the California Highway Patrol Santa Anna division, which shared the information on their official Facebook page.
The FB post featured the picture of a white Volkswagen Golf Spotswagen with non-tinted windows and said, "The Golf appears to be a 2018 or 2019 model and the license plate is unknown."
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The statement further revealed that there was a male and female passenger in the car. Florentino Olivera, from California Highway Patrol Office, spoke to Newsweek and said, "There was an incident between two vehicles, the suspect's vehicle, the white Volkswagen and a silver Chevrolet sedan." Olivera also shared that this was an "isolated road rage incident" between the two vehicles. Olivera said that the incident occurred sometime between 7:55 am and 8:10 am local time, while they were driving northbound on SR-55 freeway at Chapman Avenue.
Leos was seated in the right rear seat when he was fatally shot. Following the incident, the suspects continued to drive northbound on the 55 Freeway to the eastbound 91 Freeway toward Riverside.
Orange County District Attorney's office released a press statement that stated a reward of $310,000 would be awarded to anyone with information that could lead to the capture and conviction of Aiden's killer.
District Attorney Todd Spitzer, in a press conference on Thursday, May 27 gave a stern warning to the suspects who fled away and advised them to turn themselves in in the next 24 hours.
Spitzer said, "We’re not messing around anymore,” and added, “So you choose door A or door B … Door A, we listen to what you have to say.” He explained that Door B would mean a book being thrown at the suspects and anyone else who helped them escape for the time being.
He said, “You’ve got about 24 hours to turn yourself in or that door is closing on your future. I’m running out of patience,” and added, “The longer this goes on, the less sympathetic I will be to understand you.”
Revealing that the shot was fired by the male passenger, Spitzer addressed the woman who drove the car and said, "To the woman driving the car, you need to turn yourself in,” Spitzer said. “You are an accomplice… It’s not going to get any better for you.”
Speaking to the man who opened fire, Spitzer said, "You have to spend the rest of your life knowing you killed a 6-year-old boy.”