Mocobizscene – A man convicted of fatally shooting two teens in a Southern California movie theater during a 2021 showing of “The Forever Purge” was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Monday.
Joseph Jimenez Jr., 23, was convicted in December of two charges of first-degree murder, as well as a sentencing enhancement for personal use of a firearm resulting in death.
Prosecutors said he shot Rylee Goodrich, 18, and Anthony Barajas, 19, in the back of the head when they were watching a late-night showing of the horror-action picture at a theater in Corona, southeast of Los Angeles, on July 26, 2021. They were the only other people in the theater.
Goodrich died at the scene. Barajas, a rising social media sensation, died in a hospital.
Jimenez initially pleaded not guilty because of his insanity. In December, Superior Court Judge Timothy J. Hollenhorst found him sane.
In a jailhouse interview with the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Jimenez stated that he had recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia but had stopped taking his medicine due to a lack of pills soon before the shooting.
Jimenez informed the newspaper that the only way to protect himself from the victims was to shoot them.
