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Detective: Suspect's friends believed he had gun in theater

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CORONA, Calif. (AP) -- A man charged with fatally shooting two young people inside a Corona movie theater was accompanied by three friends who told investigators they were alarmed because they believed he had brought a gun into the cinema.

Police records obtained by the Orange County Register show 20-year-old Joseph Jimenez’s friends told detectives he was acting so strangely that they snuck out of the theater, apparently without warning anyone. Two of the friends then said they later saw the defendant run out of the cinema and speed away in his car.

A short time later, a theater employee found the victims with gunshot wounds to their heads.

Anthony Barajas, 18, and 18-year-old Rylee Goodrich were found by workers following a showing of “The Forever Purge.” Both victims had been shot in the head “execution-style” and Goodrich died at the scene, according to reports.

Police said the shooting appeared to be unprovoked and random, the Associated Press reported.

Barajas was a well-known social media star with nearly one million followers on TikTok, according to the Associated Press.