ORANGE, Calif. — A 6-year-old boy was fatally shot Friday morning during a road rage incident on a California highway.
California Highway Patrol said the child was in a booster seat when he was struck by a bullet around 8 a.m. on the northbound side of State Route 55, KTLA reported.
“It’s unfortunate we lost a boy this morning,” CHP officer Florentino Olivera said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the mom and the family.”
Family said the boy was Aiden Leos. A crowd-sourced funding account was set up to help the family.
“(Aiden’s mother is) not doing well, because it’s every mother’s worst nightmare,” cousin Alexis Cloonan told KTLA. “She had to hold him while he was dying.”
Investigators said it was an isolated incident between the mother and a driver in a white sedan.
“Not sure if there were any 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,” Olivera said.
The boy was taken to a hospital where he died. The mother was not injured.
Investigators are asking drivers who might have been on the freeway at the time and had a dash camera running to contact them.
“If you were driving by, you saw something that was not right, call it in, even it wasn’t something major, call our office,” Olivera said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.