Suspect in road rage death of 6-year-old pulled gun on driver days after shooting, DA says

A man suspected of gunning down a small child during a Southern California road-rage attack pulled a gun on another motorist days after that slaying, officials said Wednesday.

The suspect, Marcus Anthony Eriz, 24, has a violent temper and should be kept behind bars to protect the public, Orange County Assistant District Attorney Whitney Bokosky said in court papers asking for increased bail.

Eriz is accused of killing 6-year-old Aiden Leos on May 21 as he was being driven to kindergarten that morning by his mother, Joanna Cloonan.

Officials say Eriz and his girlfriend, Wynne Lee, 23, were driving on State Route 55, the Costa Mesa Freeway in Orange, when their car, speeding and swerving, cut off Cloonan. The mother then flipped her middle finger at them, prosecutors said.

That gesture allegedly enraged Eriz, who then pulled out his 9 mm Glock 17 and opened fire, killing Aiden in the back seat, prosecutors said.

Then during the week of May 24-28, Eriz and Lee were traveling on State Route 91, known as the Riverside Freeway, not far from where Aiden was killed, when a "driver in a blue Tesla did something to make defendant Eriz angry," Bokosky wrote.

"Defendant Eriz again took out his gun and brandished it to the driver of the Tesla. That driver told the defendants that he had called the police and then he drove away."

Eriz and Lee are scheduled to appear before a judge on Friday.

"Defendant Eriz is an extreme danger to the community," Bokosky wrote. "He has shown that he cannot control his temper and he goes to extremes in the snap of a finger when he is angered. "

Eriz has been charged with murder and is being held in lieu of $2 million bail. Lee is being accused of acting as accessory after the fact and is jailed with a possible bond of $500,000.

Attorneys for both Eriz and Lee declined comment on Thursday.