An 18-year-old woman was shot to death and a 19-year-old man was gravely wounded late Monday night, July 26 as they watched a movie together at the Regal Edwards Corona Crossings.
Rylee Goodrich of Corona died at the scene, while Anthony Barajas of Corona was hospitalized and was on life support as of Tuesday evening, July 27, police said.
Officers were called to the theater at 11:45 p.m. Monday after the victims were found by an employee who entered after the last showing, said Corona Police Cpl. Tobias Kouroubacalis.
On Tuesday detectives at the 18-screen movie house completed their search of the theater in which the victims were discovered without finding a gun, Capt. Paul Mercado said. At the same time, Kouroubacalis said, there was no evidence, either from witnesses or surveillance video, showing that someone shot the victims and fled.
The victims had been watching “The Forever Purge,” the fifth in The Purge horror film anthology. The basic theme is that for a half-day annually, all crime — including murder — is legal for 12 hours. Kouroubacalis did not know if detectives were investigating whether the movie’s theme was related to the shooting.
According to the electronic listings board at the theater, the last showing of “The Forever Purge” starts at 9:35 p.m. The movie lasts 1 hour and 45 minutes, putting the ending at about 11:20 p.m. or later if there were previews.
The theater sold six tickets for that showing, Kouroubacalis said, and police were trying to find the other customers.
Detectives recovered ‘items of evidentiary value,” at the scene, police said in a news release Tuesday evening. They said they were following up on leads “with the hopes of identifying” whoever was responsible for the crime. No details were provided.
The theater was closed and was expected to reopen Wednesday. Messages were left for a Regal Edwards spokesperson seeking comment.
Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to call the Corona Police Department at 951-736-2330, option 3, or Senior Detective Dan Neagu at 951-739-4916 or email slaven.n[email protected]