The California mother whose child was shot and killed last week in a road rage incident spoke out about her son’s death, saying he “didn’t deserve” it.
Joanna Cloonan described her 6-year-old son Aiden Leos as “unbelievably kind and sweet” to the point where “it almost felt like he wasn’t human sometimes,” according to NCB7 San Diego.
Cloonan was driving her son to school on Friday when another vehicle, with a female driver and male passenger, cut her off.
COLUMBUS, OHIO, SHOOTING LEAVES FIVE TEENAGERS AND 16-YEAR OLD DEAD
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“As I was merging away from the carpool lane, I heard a loud noise, and I heard my son say ‘ow,’ and I pulled the car over as soon as possible, and he had been shot. I tried to save him by calling 911, but he was losing a lot of blood. He just didn’t deserve that. No one deserves that,” she said.
Aiden was in a booster seat in the back when the bullet went through the trunk and struck him.
“He was just a blessing, pure blessing, to have that taken from us. The loss is unspeakable,” Aiden’s grandmother Mary Clooney said.
While investigators don’t know how many rounds were fired, the vehicle was described as a white sedan, potentially a Volkswagen, the California Highway Patrol said in a statement.
Authorities have said the shooting was unrelated to some recent pellet-gun shootings on the 91 Freeway in Orange and Riverside Counties.
“It was an isolated road rage incident between the mom and another driver from a white sedan,” California Highway Patrol Officer Florentino Olivera said at the scene, according to NBC Los Angeles. “Not sure if there were passengers in that white sedan, but apparently there was a shot fired from that sedan into the silver car, and unfortunately, the child that was seated in the right rear seat was struck.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to benefit Aiden’s mother and nearly doubled its goal of $100,000 with $188,533 in two days. The money will go to Aiden’s “burial costs, replace her car and living expenses while she is not able to work,” according to the description of the fundraiser.
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“Due to the outpouring love and support we have reached our goal. However we would like to continue to raise money that will go towards a reward in hopes of finding the individuals that took Aidens life,” an update from Carla Lacy, the fundraiser organizer, read.
Aiden’s father, Jose Leos, started a separate GoFundMe that has raised $11,540 with a goal of $25,000. The description says the elder Leos is “now trying to figure out what is left for him.”
