Family pleads for suspects to come forward after 6-year-old boy shot, killed on freeway
ORANGE, Calif. - The family of 6-year-old Aiden Leos is pleading for information and for the suspects involved in an apparent road rage incident in the city of Orange Friday morning to come forward.
The incident happened on the 55 freeway near Chapman at around 8 a.m.
Aiden and his mom were on the freeway, heading to take Aiden to school when his mom told CHP officers that a female driver cut her off. The mom said she tried to drive around the car, and that's when she heard a single gunshot.
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"Someone pulled out a gun and shot my little brother in the stomach and he said 'mommy my tummy hurts,' so she went and she picked him up and he was bleeding on her. She had blood on her clothes. He started turning blue and that's when the ambulance took him and that was the last time that my mom saw him alive. My mom is too distraught right now to talk so I'm down here [speaking to the media] for her because people should know what happened to my little brother," said Alexis Cloonan, the victim's sister.
The mom said there was a female driver and male passenger, and it's unknown which one fired the shot, but they were in a white sedan at the time.
"Please help us find the people that did this to my little brother. He's only six and he was so sweet," said Alexis.
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The victim's uncle, John Cloonan, also spoke and described where the bullet landed.
"There's one bullet shot in the trunk, went through the trunk and right through my nephew so you can tell it was a cowardly way of doing it because they shot her in the back pretty much. You took her [Aiden's mother] son away. You took her boy away. This boy was full of love and joy and laughter," said John.
John is hoping the suspects or people who know the suspects will encourage them to turn themselves in.
"Please turn them in, not that it matters much now because my nephew's dead so we're never gonna be, we're never gonna be full again," he said.
CHP officers said the shooting was an isolated incident, and not associated with the string of car shootings that have occurred on freeways in Southern California.
Anyone with information, cell phone video, car dashcam video, or those who may have witnessed the shooting is urged to contact the California Highway Patrol Santa Ana Area Investigator Kevin Futrell at 714-567-6000.
