Reward in fatal California road rage shooting increases to $150,000
A reward to help find the person who fatally shot a 6-year-old during an apparent road rage incident in California last week has climbed to $150,000.
Aiden Leos' family had initially offered $50,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the person behind Friday's shooting on 55 Freeway in Orange. On Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved spending $100,000 toward the reward as well, according to ABC News Los Angeles station KABC.
"It happened in my district, but it doesn't really matter where it happened. This is a young child," Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner said during a press briefing Tuesday announcing that his office will match the family's reward. "There's nothing we can do to undo it. Maybe this is a little something we can do to help at least bring this person to justice and closure for this family."
During Tuesday's board meeting, Second District Supervisor Katrina Foley pledged to match the family's reward as well, helping triple the amount of the reward to $150,000.
"It is so important that we find who did it," Foley said during the meeting, noting that Aiden was from Costa Mesa, which is in her district.
Aiden's mother, Joanna Cloonan, was driving him to school in Yorba Linda Friday morning when the shooting occurred.
She told ABC News' Zohreen Shah in an interview on "Good Morning America" earlier this week that a white sedan cut her off abruptly while she was in the carpool lane driving northbound on the 55 Freeway. Someone in the vehicle then opened fire on Cloonan's car, striking Aiden in the back seat.
The kindergartener was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
"They took my son's life away," Cloonan said. "He was beautiful and he was kind and he was precious, and you killed him for no reason. And I want to find them and I want there to be justice to be served for my son."
Cloonan said she saw a woman driving the vehicle and a man in the passenger seat, but was not sure who fired the shot.
In a press conference Friday, California Highway Patrol Officer Florentino Olivera asked anyone driving on the freeway in the area near Chapman Avenue between 7:55 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. to call the CHP's Santa Ana office at 714-567-6000.
"If your vehicle has a dashcam, we're asking you, please call our CHP office in Santa Ana, provide that video," said Olivera, who referred to the shooting as "some type of road rage incident."
"If you were driving by, you saw something that was not right, call it in -- even if it wasn't something major -- call our office. We want to hear from witnesses," Olivera said.
