A man suspected of fatally shooting two young people in a Corona theater last week was accompanied by three friends, who told investigators they were alarmed because they believed he brought a gun into the cinema and was acting so strangely they snuck out, apparently without warning anyone, police records obtained Monday show.
Two of the friends then said they later saw defendant Joseph Jimenez run out of the theater and speed away in his car, a police detective’s sworn declaration filed in court said.
Minutes later on the evening of July 26, police said, an employee found Rylee Goodrich, 18, and Anthony Barajas, 19, mortally wounded, both shot in the head.
Six people, including the two victims, attended the movie at the Regal Edwards cinema.
Detectives tracked down the person who purchased four more tickets to the showing — for three moviegoers and Jimenez.
The three moviegoers said they believed Jimenez was the killer.
The declaration, written to obtain a search warrant for Jimenez’s home and other property and filed in Superior Court on July 29, for the first time describes how police connected Jimenez with the fatal shootings.
Goodrich died the night of the shooting and Barajas died Saturday. Jimenez has been charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder; but that second count is expected to be changed to murder by the time Jimenez appears in court Thursday, Aug. 5, for his arraignment, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
The two victims and Jimenez all lived in or near Corona.
A special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait that was filed makes Jimenez eligible for the death penalty if DA Mike Hestrin seeks that punishment and Jimenez is convicted as charged.
It was unclear whether the inaction by the three friends amounts to a crime. None of the three was listed in county jail records on Tuesday. A message was left for Corona police seeking comment. Hall declined to comment on the question because the case is “active and ongoing,” he said.
Goodrich, a 2020 Corona High graduate, and Barajas, who graduated from Mater Dei High in Santa Ana in 2019, were on a date at the theater at the Crossings at Corona shopping center. They were watching the 9:35 p.m. showing — the last of the night — of “The Forever Purge,” the fifth installment of an anthology whose central plot revolves around the suspension of all criminal laws for a 12-hour period once a year.
An employee who entered to clean theater No. 15 at about 11:35 p.m. found the victims bloodied and was unsure if they were alive, the declaration said. Goodrich was pronounced dead at the scene, and Barajas was taken to Riverside Community Hospital, where doctors found several projectiles lodged in his brain. Police found three bullet casings and one projectile in the theater.
The detective wrote that six tickets were purchased for that showing — two by the victims and four by a second person. The four tickets were purchased through the cinema’s website, which collected the buyer’s name and address. That led the detective to an address in Corona where the purchaser lived.
The detective questioned that person as well as the other two moviegoers, the declaration said, who all told him that Jimenez was with them and gave this account of the night:
“Halfway through the movie, Joseph left and returned with a bag which he told them he had a ‘strap’ in the bag. Witnesses believed this to be a handgun. Witnesses said Joseph was mumbling and talking to himself which made them uncomfortable. Witnesses said they needed to use the restroom, however, they left the theater leaving Joseph behind.
“About (11:28 p.m., two of the witnesses) saw Joseph run outside the theater and run to his vehicle. He then sped away in his vehicle at a high rate of speed,” the declaration said. “The following day, witnesses learned of the press releases of the murder. Witnesses believed Joseph committed the murder.”
There was no indication in the declaration that Jimenez’s friends had called police after learning of the “strap” — slang for a gun.
This news organization is not identifying the witnesses because they have not been charged with a crime.
The night of July 27, Jimenez, 20, himself dialed 911 about 9:30 p.m.
“Jimenez called Riverside Sheriff’s Department stating someone was following him,” the declaration said.
That “someone” turned out to be a team assembled to arrest Jimenez and serve the search warrant at his home in the 19200 block of Envoy Avenue in the El Cerrito area of the county near Corona.
“The … team surrounded the listed location (where) they saw Joseph yelling and waving a handgun. A short time later Joseph surrendered to deputies,” the declaration said.
Police later said they recovered a handgun of the same caliber of the casings found in the theater as well as Goodrich’s wallet.
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Detective: Corona murder defendant’s friends believed he had gun in movie theater - Press-Enterprise
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