The 19-year-old died days after being shot by a man who opened fire at a California movie screening of The Forever Purge, killing an 18-year-old woman.
Anthony Barajas, a popular 19-year-old TikToker, died early Saturday after a gunman shot his date and him at a California movie screening of The Forever Purge, the Corona Police Department said.
Rylee Goodrich, an 18-year-old woman, watching the movie with Barajas at the theater, died of her injuries.
Anthony Barajas, who had nearly 1 million followers on his TikTok account, @itsanthonymichael, had been on life support since Monday’s shooting, which police have so far described as an “unprovoked attack.”
Police arrested Joseph Jimenez, 20, on Tuesday. Authorities recovered a firearm from his residence that matched the weapon used in the shooting.
He was booked on charges of murder, attempted murder, and robbery and was being held on $2 million bails.
After Barajas’s death Saturday, the Corona Police Department said it worked with the district attorney’s office to add a count of first-degree murder against Jimenez.
Police said that based on statements from witnesses, “there is no known motive, and it appears to be an unprovoked attack.”
Barajas and Goodrich watched a 9:35 p.m. screening of The Forever Purge together at the Crossings at Corona mall Monday night. Police told reporters at a press conference that they had sold only six tickets for the screening.
The film is the fifth installment in The Purge franchise, a series of dystopian action horror movies in which all violent crime, including murder, is legalized for one day every year.
Police responded to a call for service at the theater at approximately 11:45 p.m. They found both Barajas and Goodrich with multiple gunshot wounds. Goodrich succumbed to her injuries at the scene, while Barajas was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Police have asked for any tips or help from those inside the theater, in another theater, or at the shopping center at the time of the shooting.
Two separate GoFundMe campaigns for Barajas and Goodrich have raised more than $60,000 each as of Saturday.
“Words seem inadequate to express the sorrow felt by the loss of Rylee. Will remember her kindness and gentle spirit forever,” the GoFundMe page for Goodrich said.
“Anthony was the light of so many people’s lives, and there are tough times ahead,” the fundraiser for Anthony Barajas said.
Many fans and well-wishers flooded Barajas’s social media accounts with prayers and tributes.
“I’ll always know Anthony as the dude who would go above and beyond to welcome others,” one friend wrote on Instagram. “He was truly one of the kindest people I’ve met in a – very hard to come by.”
Goodrich was the owner of a lash extensions business who had won a scholarship to Grand Canyon University’s STEM program. She was home from the summer visiting family when killed; family members told ABC7.
