Two arrested in connection with road rage shooting of 6yo in California

Aiden Leos, 6, tragically shot dead after California road rage incident. Video / NBC

Two people were arrested Sunday in connection to a road rage shooting in Southern California that killed a 6-year-old boy, the California Highway Patrol said.

Eriz Marcus Anthony, 24, and Lee Wynne, 23, were taken into custody outside their home in Costa Mesa, the highway patrol said in a statement. Their relationship was not immediately known. Officials said the pair were expected to be charged with murder.

Aiden Leos, 6, was fatally shot in the abdomen on May 21 while seated in the back seat of a car driven by his mother, Joanna Cloonan, on State Route 55 in the city of Orange.

Family members of 6-year-old Aiden Leos stand at a makeshift memorial on the Walnut Avenue overpass at the 55 Freeway in Orange, California. Photo / AP

Highway patrol officials said the road rage incident stemmed from "a perceived unsafe lane change."

According to accounts from the mother and witnesses who stopped to help her, another car cut her off, she responded with a hand gesture and the car slipped in behind her and someone inside fired a shot through the rear of her car.

A US$500,000 reward had been offered for information leading to an arrest, Southern California News Group reported.

A single bullet hole can be clearly seen following the shooting. Photo / AP

"On behalf of Border Division Chief Omar Watson, and the Santa Ana Area, we are deeply grateful for the professionalism and tireless commitment of our investigators who have worked on this case from day one to find those responsible for Aiden's death," California Highway Patrol Commissioner Amanda Ray said in Sunday's statement.

The cover of the programme for the memorial service for Aiden Leos. Photo / AP

Watson added: "The Department has been in regular contact with the victim's family and I assure you they, like us, are committed to seeing justice served."

The arrests came a day after the memorial service for Leos, who was remembered as a child with a vocabulary beyond his years who exuded warmth and tenderness.

It was unclear where Anthony and Wynne were being held, and whether they had attorneys who could speak on their behalf.