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Grieving dad asks why there were no metal detectors at movie theater where daughter was killed
A grieving father reacted to the movie theater shooting that killed his teen daughter and placed the daughter's date, who "dad approved of," on life support.
CORONA, Calif. - There are no words that can truly describe the raw emotion of a parent who has just lost their child.
The unspeakable grief gives way to anger for a bit then the pain explodes again, with questions, and more pain. For Dave Goodrich – whose daughter, 18-year-old Rylee Goodrich, was shot to death while watching a movie on her first date with 19-year-old social media influencer, Anthony Barajas – it’s visibly unbearable, even as he seems to still be in shock.
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"It was their first date," he explains. "And a boy her dad actually approved of."
The tears begin to sneak past his sunglasses as he speaks with FOX 11. Rylee, a graduate of Corona High School, was visiting her parents while on break from Grand Canyon University, where she was studying marketing on a full scholarship.
"But she wanted to go into criminal justice and had been working with me this summer in my Private Investigator job," the grieving dad says proudly.
When he heard police had arrested 20-year-old Joseph Jimenez, who they believe shot the couple before fleeing at the theatre, he tried to find out more about the suspected shooter. But like the detectives, he couldn’t find priors or gang the suspected shooter may have been possibly affiliated with.
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Dad of Corona movie theater shooting victim calling for metal detectors
A grieving father reacted to the movie theater shooting that killed his teen daughter and placed the daughter's date, who "dad approved of," on life support.
A search warrant at Jimenez's home did yield a handgun and bullets of the same caliber as used in the crime. The Corona Police Department also found Rylee’s belonging, including her wallet.
"She had no money in it," the dad said. "The boy was paying for everything and I thought she just had her phone."
Jimenez is being held on a $2 million bond in connection to the alleged murder of Rylee and the attempted murder of Anthony Barajas, who remains hospitalized in critical condition, and robbery. But since detectives don’t know if the belonging were taken before or after the shooting, they are saying they are still investigating the suspect's motive.
The suspect had no exchange with the victims in the theatre, they say, and seemingly didn’t even know them. Investigators don’t seem to believe the theme of the movie, which is about a night of unpunished violence, had anything to do with the crime.
The theatre is back open but no visible extra security. We were, however, told they do check purses and backpacks before people go in.
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Rylee’s dad wants to know why metal detectors haven't made their way into movie theaters.
"I was at a baseball game the night before, with 40,000 people and metal detectors, and no shooting," he says. "Why not a movie theater?"
FOX 11 spoke with police specialist Dennis Zine on the issue of security at movie theaters. Zine says adding extra security measures can be a little complicated.
"You've got to get trained people for staffing and you have to make sure those people are well trained," he said. "It would be impractical and the cost would also obviously be very high for the rental of the equipment but you also have to have someone staffing that if you have one entrance or five entrances."
Zine expressed condolences to the grieving family.
"It's terrible. It's frightening. It's not the first time, but I hope it's the last time," he said.
GoFundMe pages have been created for the shooting victims:
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FOX 11's Koco McAboy contributed to this report.