What appeared to be just an ordinary movie night for this teenage couple, ended up as a fatal shooting after schizophrenic man allegedly tried to rob them in the movie theater and then shot them both to death blaming voices in his head for the incident.
The suspect who was arrested and charged, on the first court hearing said that he ran out of medication causing him to lose his mind resulting with two young people dead.
The incident happened in California movie theater last month when the suspect J. Jimenez was out for a movie night with a couple of friends. According to the police reports, the teenage couple who was shot to death were attending the same movie screening and the theater confirmed only six tickets were sold that night, only for the fatally shot couple, the shooter and his friends.
Jimenez’s friends told police they felt like their friend was not behaving normal that night and they even suspected that Jimenez might have had gun with him in the theater, but didn’t inform the authorities nor the theater security personnel.
According to his friends, the shooter behaved so strangely that they snuck out of the movie house while he was already out. Just a few minutes after they went outside, they saw Jimenez speeding away in his car fleeing the theater’s parking lot.
The victims were later found suffering gunshot wounds in critical condition by a theater employee who immediately called 911. When crews arrived at the scene, the 18-year-old girl identified as Rylee G. was pronounced dead, while her boyfriend, a social media star and influencer identified as the 19-year-old Anthony B. was transferred to hospital in critical condition where he later died.
According to police, Jimenez allegedly wanted to rob the couple, but shot them both in the theater premises after they opposed him and refused to give him their belongings.
The shooter was arrested and initially charged with murder and attempted murder, but the second charge will be upgraded as the boy in critical condition passed away two days after the incident while held on life support. Jimenez refused to reveal the real reason for shooting.
Police seized a handgun of the same caliber as the one believed to have been used in the shooting and recovered Rylee’s wallet and other possessions from Jimenez’s home less than 24 hours after the shooting.
Jimenez did not enter a plea deal when he appeared in court on the first court hearing, opting instead to have his arraignment postponed until next week.
Prosecutors also filed a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait, which makes him eligible to receive the death penalty.
Few days later, the shooter appeared in court along with his attorney. According to the court reports, Jimenez blames his ‘voices in his head telling him his friends and family will be killed’. When asked by court how killing other people would safe his family and friends, he didn’t answer.
As Daily Mail reported, Jimenez said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia about eight months ago, but had stopped taking his prescribed medication recently.
‘I ran out and didn’t get it refilled,’ Jimenez said.
The voices have been in his head for months, sometimes telling him that someone will steal his car and television.
In the interview, he also gave a blow-by-blow description of the shooting but offered his condolences to the families of the victims, saying: ‘I wish I didn’t do it.’
The shooter faces many years in prison and even death penalty.
