Man blames voices in head for killings
Theater shooting suspect says he feared for safety of friends, family
Joseph Jimenez, the man accused of fatally shooting two young people in a Corona movie theater, said he killed them because the voices in his head that have tormented him for months told him to.
“The voices said my friends and family were going to be killed,” Jimenez said in a jailhouse interview Wednesday at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning. That led to the shooting, he said.
When asked to clarify whether he believed the only way to save his loved ones was to shoot Rylee Goodrich, 18, and Anthony Barajas, 19, Jimenez answered matter-offactly: “Basically, yeah.”
Jimenez, 20, is scheduled to be arraigned today in Superior Court in Riverside on two counts of murder with two special circumstance allegations — lying in wait and multiple murders — that make him eligible for the death penalty should the Riverside County district attorney’s office pursue that punishment.
Jimenez said he is “a little” nervous about the case.
Jimenez said he has been
haunted by the voices for about eight months. They sometimes threaten to steal his car and television, he said. Jimenez said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia about eight months ago and was taking medication. But recently, he said, he had not taken his pills.
“I ran out and didn’t get
it refilled,” Jimenez said.
Jimenez said the voices were overwhelming on the night of the shooting, July 26, and prevented him from concentrating on the movie, “The Forever Purge,” the fifth in an anthology in which the plot centers around the suspension of all laws for a 12-hour period each year. Jimenez said the movie’s theme did not influence what he said happened next in theater No. 15 at the Regal Edwards cinema
at the Crossings at Corona shopping center.
Jimenez said he left the theater, went to his car and retrieved a gun he said he had purchased on OfferUp, an online selling platform.
He had been sitting with three friends who the next day told investigators they had been so alarmed by Jimenez bringing in the gun and talking to himself that they fled the building.
Jimenez was sitting near the back of the theater, behind
Barajas and his date, Goodrich, who he said were seated near the middle. Jimenez said he came up behind them and shot Barajas first. Goodrich “sort of jumped,” he said, and he then shot her. He said he could feel his heart beating faster as he ran from the theater.
He was arrested the following day after police interviewed the friends who attended the movie with him. Those four, and the victims, were the only ticketholders
for the 9:35 p.m. showing.
Jimenez referred to Goodrich and Barajas by their first names during the interview.
Jimenez said he did not get in trouble as a child. He attended schools in Corona, graduating from Santiago High, and said he was born at Corona Regional Medical Center. Though similar in age to the victims, all three attended separate high schools: Goodrich graduated
from Corona High and Barajas from Mater Dei High in Santa Ana.
When healthy, Jimenez said, “I’m pretty mellow. I like to have fun. I mostly stay inside and play video games.”
Jimenez said if he had the night of the shooting to do over again, he would have simply walked out of the theater.
“My condolences” to the families, Jimenez said. “I wish I didn’t do it.”