Family and friends of actor Johnny Wactor are pleading for help finding the killer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Family and friends of actor Johnny Wactor on Tuesday called for action from the public and officials to help find and convict his killers.

The former “General Hospital” actor was shot on May 25 as he interrupted thieves who stole the catalytic converter from his car in downtown Los Angeles, authorities said. No arrests have been made yet.

“I’m asking anyone who knows anything to come forward,” the actor’s mother, Scarlett Wactor of South Carolina, said at a news conference outside Los Angeles City Hall. “It will help me and his brothers in our healing to know that they have been captured and convicted.”

The police themselves have made a plea for public help on August 5 when they released surveillance images of three unknown suspects and their getaway car – a stolen black 2018 Infiniti Q50.

Johnny Wactor was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and grew up in the nearby town of Summerville. He played Brando Corbin on the ABC soap opera ‘General Hospital’ from 2020 to 2022. He also appeared in films and TV series including ‘Station 19’, ‘NCIS’ and ‘Westworld’.

Scarlett Wactor previously said her son had been leaving work at a rooftop bar with a colleague when he saw someone near his car and thought it was being towed. A mask-wearing suspect opened fire, his mother said.

“Grief is my constant companion,” she said Tuesday. “I can’t wish him a happy birthday on August 31; he would have been 38. I can’t ask him to come home for Christmas. I can’t ask how his day went.”

Others at the news conference called on Mayor Karen Bass and other leaders for more action to fight crime.

“We will ensure that no family has to endure the pain that Scarlett is enduring today,” Councilor Kevin de León said. “We want justice for Johnny and we will get it.”