Nearly three weeks after his shooting death at the hands of a catalytic converter theft crew, friends and family of former “General Hospital'' actor Johnny Wactor will gather in downtown Los Angeles on June 12 to call for justice and urge the city to post a reward for information leading to the killers.
Wactor, 37, was shot around 3:30 a.m. May 25 while walking with a co-worker toward his parked car near Hope Street and Pico Boulevard after finishing his bartending shift at the nearby Level 8 bar/restaurant.
Police said the pair encountered a crew trying to steal the catalytic converter from Wactor’s car, and one of them shot Wactor as he approached.
“Unfortunately, what happened to Johnny can, and is likely to, happen again,'' organizers of Wednesday’s gathering said in a statement announcing the event. ”With a one in 119 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime coupled with a one in 36 chance of being a victim of property crime in Los Angeles alone, our city has one of the highest crime rates in the country, ranking safer than only 7% of U.S. cities nationwide.
“Johnny’s family and friends are urging local community leaders to explore legislative and municipal actions that will hopefully not only lead to breakthroughs in Johnny’s case, but that will also help make the city that Johnny chose to call home safer.'’
The group plans to gather near the shooting scene to make a plea for justice. They also plan to march to City Hall, pushing for Mayor Karen Bass “to lend full support and resources to the Los Angeles Police Department in this homicide investigation, beginning with issuing a minimum $25,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the individuals responsible for Johnny’s death.'’
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, Wactor and a co- worker—later identified as Anita Joy—were walking to his vehicle but were “confronted by three individuals who had Wactor’s vehicle raised with a floor jack and were in the process of stealing the catalytic converter.
Without provocation, the victim was shot by one of the individuals.
“The three suspects involved were wearing all dark clothing and driving a dark colored sedan. The suspects fled northbound on Hope Street.'’
Paramedics rushed Wactor to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Catalytic converters are popular targets for thieves because they are rich in precious metals that can be resold.
In a subsequent social media post, Joy wrote, “We were no threat and Johnny kept his cool as he always did, simply stating that it was his car and for them to leave, hands open to his sides in peace. Johnny was between me and the man who shot him. As I heard the shot ring into the night, he forcefully tumbled back into my arms and as I grabbed for him, I shouted `hunny you ok?!‘ And he only responded `Nope! Shot!’
“We toppled onto the street where I pushed my legs under him and tried to hold his body up while screaming for help and screaming at him to stay with me.'’
According to Joy, a security guard from their workplace was nearby and ran to them while calling 911, then tied a jacket around Wactor in hopes of stopping the bleeding, and tried to perform CPR.
“It was too close range, too extreme of a wound for him to survive it but my god, he fought to stay,'‘ Joy wrote. ”I am utterly heartbroken and so very angry. My only peace is that I was with him and this didn’t happen to him alone—my only other peace will be seeing these awful men brought to justice.’’
Wactor appeared on nearly 200 episodes of “General Hospital'‘ from 2020-22. His other credits included ”Westworld,’‘ “The OA,’‘ ”NCIS,’‘ “Station 19,’‘ ”Criminal Minds’’ and “Hollywood Girl.'’
Anyone with information about the suspects was urged to call the LAPD’s Central Station at 213-486-6606. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or visit lacrimestoppers.org.
A GoFundMe page created to benefit Wactor’s family—https://www.gofundme.com/f/justice-for-johnny-family-support—had raised more than $133,000 as of Tuesday.
