The "voices" in his head ordered him to murder two strangers in the cinema.
That was the reason that Joseph Jiménez, 20, gave to justify the deadly shooting on July 26 that claimed the lives of TikTok star Antony Barajas, 19, and his friend Rylee Goodrich, 18.
Jiménez, who is being held in the Riverside County Jail in Banning, California, on murder charges, gave an interview to the local newspaper
The Press Enterprise
in which he spoke about the attack in a nearly empty room of a downtown movie theater. The Crossings store in Corona, southeast of Los Angeles.
"The voices told me that they were going to kill my friends and family,"
said the attacker from jail this week.
But he did not explain how killing others would be the solution to saving loved ones.
The young man also offered his condolences to the families of the victims, saying: "I wish I hadn't."
Joseph Jimenez, 20, in court in Riverside, Calif., Friday, July 30, 2021. AP
Anthony Barajas and his friend were watching the horror movie 'The Forever Purge' on July 26 around 10:00 pm (local time) when Jiménez, who was alone, drew a gun and shot the girl first, who died in the place.
Barajas was taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds to the head and on life support, but died five days later.
Both were shot execution-style
, according to authorities.
The
influencer
, known online as itsanthonymichael, had nearly a million followers on TikTok and more on other platforms.
He and his friend were found in a pool of their own blood by workers cleaning the theater after the film's last performance, said Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin.
Jiménez was arrested the next day.
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The attacker also confessed from jail that the voices in his head had been tormenting him for eight months, and that he was sometimes threatened by stealing his car and television.
He said that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia almost a year ago and that he had recently stopped taking the medications his doctor prescribed.
[This old woman mysteriously disappeared 43 years ago. His car was found at the bottom of a river]
"I ran out and I did not refill it," he said.
He also recounted that the voices in his head were so overwhelming the night he killed the two young men that he could not focus on the film, a
violent
thriller
that he said had no influence on his actions.
Corona police said Jiménez acted alone and there is no indication that he knew the victims or that Barajas' role as a TikTok influencer played a role in the crime.
The attacker is
being held on $ 2 million bail.