New details emerge about Aiden Leos shooting suspects
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ORANGE (KCAL, KCBS) — With the arrest of two suspects in connection to the 55 Freeway shooting of 6-year-old Aiden Leos May 21, residents of the southland are learning more about the pair currently in custody, each being held on $1 million bond.
Marcus Anthony Eriz, the 24-year-old Costa Mesa man arrested, previously worked at Platinum Collision in Corona.
His former boss, Tom Gregg, and his wife, showed up to the memorial for Aiden on the Walnut Avenue overpass above the 55 Freeway.
“We didn’t see any violent tendency in him,” Gregg said. “We have a lot of employees and I don’t think anyone triggered HR and said this guy has this and this.”
Gregg also said Eriz had just text him on Thursday asking for his job as an auto-body technician back. Eriz had quit in January.
“He reached out and texted me that the grass wasn’t greener and wanted to know if he could come back to Platinum. And we actually told him to meet with the GM and find a location for him. But we had no clue this transpired a few weeks ago,” Gregg said.
On his social media accounts, Eriz posted videos of himself firing shotguns, handguns and a machine gun.
The white Volkswagen station wagon at the center of the 17 day manhunt was found Monday evening, hidden in the garage of a Whittier home in a quiet neighborhood. Property records indicate that the homeowner, a woman, is a relative of Eriz. A neighbor, Kevin DeSilva, said a grandmother lives in the Whittier home, but has been on vacation for several weeks.
“I’m guessing that he had parked the car here and thought that no one would find it,” DeSilva told CBSLA’s Nicole Comstock. Investigators echoed that sentiment, saying they believe the woman didn’t know the car had been stashed in her garage.
Neighbors who witnessed investigators towing the vehicle away mentioned that they were talking about how one of the suspects eventually confessed to where the car was hidden.
The VW is registered to the parents of the second suspect, 23-year-old Wynne Lee who grew up in Diamond Bar. Investigators believe that Lee was driving the car when Eriz shot 6-year-old Aiden Leos from the passengers side.
Six years ago, Lee was featured in an article for Kaiser Health News as a teenager, where she talked about struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts.
“When I started going through depression, at first…I was just…I was lost,” Lee can be seen saying in the video interview.
Her family home was searched by investigators late last night, although no one answered the door today.
A neighbor of the Lee family, Roxanna Polio, said the situation is extremely upsetting.
“It really breaks my heart because they are a lovely family,” Polio said Monday.
At the overpass memorial for Aiden Leos, Gregg said that Platinum Collision has been receiving death threats for their affiliation to Eriz, but made clear that their concern tonight is not for themselves.
“Road rage is a real thing,” DeSilva said,” and hopefully this teaches people to think twice about making gestures on the road and also reacting towards other people’s gestures.”
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