A woman whose son was fatally shot along with his date in a Corona movie theater in 2021 on Wednesday evening recalled during a remembrance ceremony her family’s grief and urged other family members of crime victims to honor their memories.

Catherine Barajas spoke during the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office’s annual National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Candlelight Vigil in front of the Riverside County Historic Courthouse.

“The grieving that we do, that families do when they lose a loved one, is so often an intensely private and personal moment. When we think about our loved ones who are no longer with us, the grief can seem overwhelming,” District Attorney Mike Hestrin said. “Those private moments oftentimes can leave a victim’s family and loved ones feeling isolated, giving the impression that they’re alone in their grief and that nobody understands what they’re going through, such overwhelming loss, but today we come together to grieve publicly.”

Barajas was Wednesday’s featured speaker and was joined by family including her two daughters and her husband, Brian Barajas.

On July 26, 2021, Corona High graduate Rylee Goodrich, 18, and Mater Dei High graduate Anthony Barajas, 19, were watching the final moments of the last showing that night of “The Forever Purge” at the Regal Edwards Cinema at the Crossings at Corona when they were attacked.

Joseph Jimenez Jr., now 23, a Santiago High graduate who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, had run out of his medicine and failed to get it refilled. He had been hearing voices that were threatening to harm him, so he purchased a gun on OfferUp. That night, he heard voices from “Abigail” and an unidentified, equally non-existent companion saying he was in danger from the Corona teens as they sat several rows in front of Jimenez and three of his friends.

The six people were the only customers in the theater.

Jimenez went to his car and retrieved the gun. The three friends, unnerved by Jimenez, left the theater and did not warn anyone.

Jimenez snuck up behind the teens and shot Barajas first, then Goodrich. She died that day and Barajas died on July 31, 2021, after donating organs.

Jimenez originally pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He later withdrew his plea and was found sane during a trial by a judge. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Feb. 26, 2024.

“….every single morning I wake up, I can’t catch my breath because Anthony’s gone,” Barajas said Wednesday.

Barajas recounted how happy she was when Anthony was born and how joyful it was to see her son grow up. Anthony loved music and performing, she said, remembering his performance as Flounder in The Little Mermaid play.

“Every night I try, I fight and try to remember his smile rather than him lying on the floor bleeding from a gunshot wound to his head that was inflicted by someone who made a choice,”  Barajas said.

Anthony managed to save the lives of two young men as a result of his organ donation, she said.

“I think of him crying for me, waiting for me to rescue him. I think of him being all alone in an ambulance, dying without his mother,” she said.

Barajas said the family was in Hawaii having fun a day before he was shot and killed.

“It was my job to hold them if they were scared or hurt. It was my job to ensure that they were safe,” Barajas said.

“The offender took all of that away from me. He took that away from Anthony. He made all my promises to all my children become a lie.”

Barajas said the family still attends therapy two to three times a week to help process their loss.

“Let’s live the rest of our days remembering our loved ones,” Barajas said in closing. “Let’s speak their names and tell their stories.”

The event continued after her speech, with law enforcement and city personnel coming up and saying the names of the murder victims who are being remembered.

As the names were read, the family and friends of each victim would raise their candles.

The vigil ended with two songs: “See you again,” by Wiz Khalifa and “Lean on me,” by Bill Withers.

The family members and friends then walked over to the Victims’ Memorial Courtyard, where a wall has the names of murder victims engraved into granite.

The wall has over 2,000 names, and more are added to the wall each year.

Some of the names added this year were:

George Sifontes, 31, of Rialto, who died Oct. 17, 2023, after being struck in the back of the head by a man and hitting the ground hard in Riverside.
Michael Rangel, 68, of Riverside, who was shot and killed on Oct. 28, 2023 while watering his lawn in Riverside.
Andrew Cisneros, 35, was killed in a shooting on Feb. 25, 2023.
Gilberto Sotelo, 38, who died on Aug. 7, 2023, after being struck in a hit-and-run crash in Riverside

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