The two suspects accused of killing General Hospital star Johnny Wactor in downtown Los Angeles last year are expected to learn Monday whether they will stand trial.
Robert Isaiah Barceleau and Sergio Estrada, both 18, will appear before Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo on Monday to hear whether there is enough evidence to advance their case. FOX 11 reported.
Barceleau and Estrada are two of four people arrested and charged following the May 25, 2024, incident in which Wactor was shot and killed.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said Barceleau is the one who allegedly pulled the trigger.
Barceleau and Estrada are reportedly members of the Florencia 13 gang and were both charged with murder, second-degree robbery and grand theft.
Last month, more charges were filed against Barceleau and Estrada, alleging they committed the crime on behalf of a street gang.
As an alleged shooter, Barceleau is confronted with a special circumstance: murder during the commission of a robbery. He was also accused of personally and intentionally firing the gun that shot and killed Wactor.
The other two men, Leonel Gutierrez, 18, and Frank Olano, 22, were charged with lesser crimes in connection with the beloved actor’s “senseless” death.
The two suspects accused of killing General Hospital star Johnny Wactor (pictured) in downtown Los Angeles last year expect to hear whether they will appear in court
Los Angeles police previously released two images of the suspects and their getaway car (pictured above) as they appealed to the public for help identifying them
Barceleau, Gutierrez and Estrada were all served with arrest warrants for murder, while Olano was arrested for allegedly being an accessory to the crime.
Wactor, 37, was killed around 3.25am when he approached thieves who stole his car’s catalytic converter.
He had quit his part-time job at a ‘cathedral-style’ nightclub called Sinners y Santos, along with his colleague Anita Joy.
Joy, who witnessed the gruesome shooting, said Wactor asked the men to leave and held up his hands to show he was not a threat.
As they walked to their car, they saw three masked men near Wactor’s vehicle, which was on a jack.
The suspects opened fire when they saw Wactor and Joy. One bullet struck Wactor in the chest.
The actor was taken to hospital by paramedics and declared dead.
Three months after his death, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) identified the gang members as the alleged perpetrators.
Anita Joy was with Johnny Wactor when he was murdered
Gutierrez pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and grand theft in connection with the actor’s death, but denied that he was the one who actually pulled the trigger in August.
His sentencing is scheduled for January 15. None of the other suspects have yet entered a plea.
“The loss of this talented young actor, who was in the prime of his life and had so much to offer the world, is deeply felt by all of us,” Gascón said in August 2024.
Wactor’s relatives told DailyMail.com that the actor died trying to protect Joy from the bullets.
Johnny’s younger brother Grant confirmed his death to DailyMail.com in May 2024, saying he wasn’t surprised to hear that his sibling was putting others first at the time.
Grant said they were raised as “southern gentlemen,” and that his brother’s final act was one of bravery.
He told DailyMail.com: ‘We’re southern, born and bred, and we would never let a woman walk to their car alone.
“He ran into them and thought his truck was being towed. So he said something to the guys like, “Hey, are you towing?”
Pictured: Wactor on the set of General Hospital. He appeared on the show approximately 160 times between 2020 and 2020
“And once he turned around, he saw what was happening and put his colleague behind him. And then they shot him.”
Wactor was the eldest of three siblings. He was originally from Charleston, South Carolina.
In a series of Instagram posts recalling his final moments, Joy Wactor mentioned her boyfriend of “eight years” and described how he “fought to stay alive” before dying in her arms.
“Everything happened in the blink of an eye,” Joy wrote. ‘I’ve come to describe it as a glass of water tipping over and you try to grab it and stop it from spilling all the way, but it just runs through your fingertips and is gone.
‘Johnny stood between me and the man who shot him – when I heard the shot ring out into the night, he fell forcefully back into my arms and as I grabbed him I shouted, “Hunny, are you okay?!”
‘And he just replied, ‘No! Shot!’ We fell to the street, where I pushed my legs under him and tried to hold his body up while I screamed for help and yelled at him to stay with me.
‘It was too close and too extreme a wound to survive. But my God, he fought to stay.”
Wactor appeared in more than 160 episodes of General Hospital from 2020 to 2022 as the character Brando Corbin.
‘It was too close and too extreme a wound to survive. But my God, he fought to stay,” Joy said of the gunshot wound that killed Wactor (photo)
Johnny Wactor (left) pictured with his family, who said they will remember him as a hero
The actor was also a series regular on the 2013 NBC drama series Siberia, which ran for eleven episodes.
He went on to have multi-episode arcs on TV shows like The OA, The Passenger, Westworld, and Hollywood Girl.
His first break on television came in a three-episode guest role on the Lifetime series Army Wives.
He had also started producing; his IMDb page lists three upcoming projects. Wactor also wrote a short film called Broken Riders.
Wactor’s most recent work was in the horror anthology Dead Talk Tales: Volume which I released early last year.