In a sad incident on May 27, 2021, a 6-year-old boy succumbed to a bullet wound in a road rage shooting last week in Orange County, California. The kid was being driven to school when the incident took place.
The assailants of the attack remain unknown. The police launched a search to find the elusive killer. The reward money for information about the killer now touched $310,000. Support is pouring in for the bereaved family from the community and the netizens.
The Incident
Aiden Leos suffered a bullet injury on the drive to school with Joanna Cloonan, his mother, in Yorba Linda last Friday. Cloonan was driving northbound on the carpool lane on 55 Freeway when a white sedan abruptly cut her off. Someone inside the sedan opened fire. The shots struck Aiden sitting in the back seat.
Joanna Cloonan talked to ABC News’ Zohreen Shah about the killing of her son. In an interview on the show ‘Good Morning America’, she said, “As I started to merge away from them, I heard a deafening noise.” And my son said ‘Ow’, and I had to pull over. And he got shot.
Expressing her anguish over the death of her son, she said, “They took my son’s life away. He was beautiful and he was kind and he was precious, and you killed him for no reason.”
The Investigation
California Highway Patrol Officer Florentino Olivera said that some road rage incident involving the boy’s mother and a motorist took place right before the shooting. He said he had limited details on what exactly happened.
But at a press conference, Olivera said the authorities were searching for the suspects. They are looking for a man and a woman, driving a newer white Volkswagen station wagon. He added that the police is seeking public help to locate the vehicle.
Olivera said the police were interested in talking to anyone who drove north on State Route 55 between Chapman Avenue and State Route 22 from 7:55 to 8:15 am if their vehicles have a dashboard camera.
Community Support
The community came together to support the family. They built a makeshift memorial at Walnut Avenue overpass at the 55 Freeway. The family and the community held a vigil at the overpass in memory of Aiden Leos.
Alexis Cloonan, Aiden’s sister, said, “I am just thankful my brother gets to have a funeral as beautiful as he is.” Community members left flowers, stuffed animals and balloons at the memorial.
The family offered a reward of $50,000 for information about the shooter. The County supervisors contributed money to increase the offered reward. Supervisors Dan Wagner and Katrina Foley contributed $50,000 through their office. Officials of Orange County pledged to triple the reward. With no information coming by, the reward money has now reached up to $310,000.
Donors pledged over $240,000 for the aid of Aiden’s family through a GoFundMe campaign. The proceeds from the campaign will cover the cost of mental health counselling, funeral services and replacing the car Aiden was riding when he was killed.
