Four suspects have been charged in connection with the murder of “General Hospital” star Johnny Wactor.
He was killed in May while interrupting thieves stealing his car’s catalytic converter, the Los Angeles Police Department announced on Thursday.
Three of the men, who are all between the ages of 18 and 22, are charged with murder while a fourth was booked as an accessory, police said in a press release.
Wactor, 37, was fatally shot in the chest around 3:25 a.m. May 25 outside Level 8, a downtown LA nightclub where he worked, after interrupting thieves trying to steal the catalytic converter on his car.
Police said he had just left the rooftop bar with a co-worker when he saw three men who had hoisted his car with a jack. One of them fired at him “without provocation,” they added.
He was rushed to a hospital, where he died from his wounds. The county medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.
Robert Barceleau, 18, of Huntington Park; Leonel Gutierrez, 18, of Los Angeles County; and Sergio Estrada, 18, of Los Angeles County were charged with murder following search warrants executed on Thursday that led to their arrests.
Frank Olano, 22, of Inglewood, was charged with being an accessory, police said.
No further details have been shared about the arrests or the evidence that was recovered.
Police were probing the Florencia 13 gang tied to catalytic converter thefts in the region, according to the Los Angeles Times and TMZ.
His killing made headlines nationwide and even sparked a rally by friends and relatives Tuesday outside LA City Hall, who demanded justice more than two months after the shooting.
“Grief is my constant companion,” his mother, Scarlett Wactor, told reporters. “I can’t wish him happy birthday on Aug. 31 — he would have been 38. I can’t ask if he’s coming home for Christmas. I can’t ask how his day went.
“I’m asking that anybody that knows anything please come forward,” she pleaded.
Authorities earlier this month asked for the public’s assistance, releasing surveillance images of the three suspects who fled in a stolen vehicle.
The South Carolina native famously portrayed Brandon Corbin on the popular TV soap opera from 2020 to 2022. He also appeared in the TV shows “Station 19,” “NCIS” and “Westworld.”
With Post wires
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Source: The Wall Street Journal
