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TikTok Star Anthony Barajas, 19, Dies After California Theater Shooting

Police said that a man was arrested in relation to a shooting that killed an 18-year-old woman and 19-year-old social media influencer while they watched The Forever Purge in a movie theater in Southern California. Rylee Goodrich died immediately and TikTok star Anthony Barajas was on life support but died on Saturday.

Authorities said that the reason behind the shooting on Monday is unknown and seemed to be “an unprovoked attack.”

Corona Police Department Corporal Tobias Kouroubacalis said that the teenagers from Corona were found by theater workers cleaning up after the showing of the horror movie at 9:35 p.m. During a press conference on Wednesday morning, Kouroubacalies said that they were found near or on their seats.

“At some point, the employee or employees walk inside the theater to conduct their clean-up or walk through and that’s when the 911 call was placed,” explained Kouroubacalis. “[They said] that there was an unknown problem, somebody was bleeding, there wasn’t very specific information given.”

The social media influencer, known online as itsanthonymichael, has nearly one million followers on TikTok.

Joseph Jimenez, 20, is a suspect shooter. He was booked on Tuesday night on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and robbery.

Jimenez is being held on $2 million bail and will be arraigned in the next few days.

Police officers said that a firearm that matched the size of the weapon used in the shooting was found in his home.

Kouroubacalis told reporters on Wednesday that witnesses gave police information that led them to believe that Jimenez was the potential shooter. Kouroubacalis said that investigators also believe that he acted alone.

“There’s no information the suspect and the victims had any prior contact before these crimes took place,” he explained.

Jimenez had a ticket for the horror film and that investigators aren’t sure if he was inspired by the movie.

“During the actual movie time, no one apparently hears the gunshot,” Kailyn Dillon, an employee who was not working at the time, told CBS LA. “I know that we do have security bag checks that we do on a daily and, unfortunately, I’m not sure if it just was missed or if it was in a holster on their belt.”

Authorities said both victims attended the movie together. Initially, it was not clear who else was in the theater at that time; records show a total of six tickets purchased for that movie.

“You don’t expect to … get home from work and then finding out that your cousin was shot in the back of the head,” Goodrich’s cousin, Ashley Cole, told CBS LA. “When [there are] only six people in a movie theater, to me, that’s not what I imagine someone that’s not going with intentions to kill someone to do.”

A GoFundMe page was created to help Goodrich’s family cover her funeral costs.

Alexandra Llorca

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