Joseph Jimenez El Cerrito California man arrested in Corona movie theater shooting that led to Rylee Goodrich dead & Anthony Barajas on life support.
A suspect has been arrested in the movie theater shooting in Corona, California that led to an 18-year-old teen girl dead and a 19-year-old TikTok influencer on life support.
Joseph Jimenez, 20, was arrested Tuesday night by Corona police and charged with murder, attempted murder and robbery. Authorities say it appeared to be an unprovoked attack abc7 reported.
The shooting happened just before midnight Monday at the Regal Edwards Corona Crossings during a showing of horror movie flick, ‘The Forever Purge.’
The woman who died was identified as Rylee Goodrich, 18, of Corona. The man who was wounded was identified as Anthony Barajas, 19, also of Corona. The two were together inside the theater seeing a 9:35 p.m. showing of the film when they were shot.
Notice of their casualties only occurred as workers at the movie theater came across both victims while cleaning up after the movie ended. At the time, the movie house sold six tickets to the 9.35pm, Monday night screening.
‘… discovered firearm matched the caliber of the weapon used in the murder’
‘Officers arrived on scene, they located two people down suffering from gunshot wounds inside the theater,’ said Officer Tobias Kouroubacalis of the Corona Police Department during a press conference. ‘I’m being told right now there were six tickets purchased for that movie showing.’
Of note, no murder weapon was found at the scene, while detectives said they ‘recovered items of evidentiary value,’ according to KTLA.
On Tuesday around 10:30 p.m., detectives served a search warrant in the 19000 block of Envoy in El Cerrito, where Jimenez lived, police said.
‘During the search of the residence, a firearm and additional evidence related to the crime scene were discovered. The firearm matched the caliber of the weapon used in the murder,’ police stated in a press release.
Unanswered questions
It wasn’t immediately clear how authorities came to identify Jiminez as the suspect or what led to the man shooting Goodrich and Barajas. Also unclear is if the suspect had been one of the six individuals who had purchased a ticket to Monday night’s screening and whether they had used a card, which would’ve had their particulars, for the screening.
Goodrich attended Corona High and played volleyball, ran track and was also a cheerleader. She was given a scholarship to Grand Canyon University in its STEM program. She was home for the summer visiting family in Corona and had recently started an eyelash business.
Goodrich’s cousin Ashley Cole described her loved one as someone with a ‘great heart’ and motivated to help others, including her family and younger sister.
Barajas was a standout soccer player at Mater Dei High. He has many followers on his social media pages, with more than 40,000 followers on his Instagram and more than 1M followers on TikTok.
Jimenez is being held on $2 million bail.
The Police Department asked anyone who was inside the theater or in the area between 9 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. to reach out with any information.
