TikTok star Anthony Barajas dies following shooting at California movie theater
News crews report from in front of the Regal Edwards Corona Crossings movie theater, Tuesday, July 27, 2021, in Corona, Calif., following a shooting at the theater the night before that killed an 18-year-old woman and seriously wounded a 19-year-old social media influencer as they watched “The Forever Purge.” (Terry Pierson/The Orange County Register via AP)
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CORONA, Calif. (AP) — A young man who had been on life support after being shot inside a Southern California movie theater has died, police and his family said Saturday.
Anthony Barajas, 19, was watching “The Forever Purge” at a theater in Corona with Rylee Goodrich, 18, on Monday when they were shot in the head. They were found by an employee after the last showing of the night.
Goodrich died at the scene. Barajas was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was placed on life support.
Police said the shooting appeared to be random and unprovoked. They were working with Riverside County prosecutors to add a second murder count against the suspected shooter, Joseph Jimenez.
Jimenez, 20, appeared in Riverside County Superior Court on Friday after being charged with murder in the death of Goodrich and attempted murder of Barajas. But he didn’t enter a plea, and his arraignment was postponed to next week.
Prosecutors also had charged Jimenez with a special circumstance of lying in wait that makes him eligible for the death penalty if convicted as charged.
Jimenez has been jailed since his arrest. It’s not clear whether he has retained an attorney who can speak for him.
Barajas was a high school honor student and had hundreds of thousands of followers on his TikTok social media account, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.
“From his quick smile to his compassionate heart, Anthony’s presence was a gift to all who knew him,” his family said in a statement.
