Police are asking the public for help in identifying the suspects involved in the murder of Johnny Wactor of General Hospital.
Wactor, who played Brando Corbin on the long-running soap opera, was killed more than three months ago when he confronted three robbers who broke into his car in Los Angeles.
There have been no arrests since then and police have only now released images of the suspects and their getaway car.
The videos, released by the Los Angeles Police Department on Sunday, show the suspects attempting to steal a catalytic converter from Wactor’s vehicle shortly before being confronted by the 37-year-old man on the night of May 24.
After a brief exchange of words, the actor was shot in the chest by the number one suspect of the three, according to police. The three were then filmed fleeing in a black, four-door 2018 Infinity Q50 with a tan interior.
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Police are asking the public for help in identifying suspects involved in the murder of Johnny Wactor at General Hospital
There have been no arrests since the May 24 murder, and police have only now released images of the three suspects and their getaway car (seen here).
“Suspect one has a tattoo above his left eye and on his right cheek,” police wrote in Sunday’s community alert, the first update on the case since May.
“Suspects one through three were attempting to steal a catalytic converter from the victim’s vehicle,” the bulletin, which consisted of just two photographs, continued.
‘The victim confronted the suspects and was shot in the chest by Suspect 1.
‘Suspects one through three fled the area in a suspect vehicle, identified as a stolen 2018 black Infiniti Q50, 4-door, with a tan interior.
“The Los Angeles Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the three suspects involved,” it concluded, while the three remain at large.
Citizens with information relevant to the case were urged to contact two detectives in the department’s Central Homicide Bureau who are handling the case, which is now at risk of going cold about 72 days later.
Officials have not yet produced any further surveillance footage to use as a basis, but will only say the crime is still under investigation.
The incident in question occurred near Pico Boulevard and Hope Street around 3:25 a.m. that morning.
The car was a black 2018 Infinity Q50, 4-door, with a tan interior, that was stolen. The car is seen fleeing the scene after Wactor was shot and killed.
The intersection is located in the city’s notoriously crime-ridden downtown district, where theft of auto parts and cars has become commonplace.
This set the stage for the budding star’s encounter with the three assailants as he walked a co-worker to her own car, while Wactor was working part-time at a nearby bar.
An argument ensued, after which the actor, who appeared in 164 episodes of General Hospital, ended up being shot in the chest by one of the suspects, now confirmed to be so-called “Suspect 1.”
Meanwhile, violent crime in Los Angeles has been on the rise, recording a 2.9 percent increase earlier this year compared to 2023.
The last time the force updated robbery statistics, thefts increased by 9.5 percent, asAround 600,000 catalytic converters are stolen in the city every year.
Most cars are equipped with one converter, but those with a dual exhaust system require two, while larger vehicles such as SUVs and trucks can take more.
As the New York Times recently stated, stolen converters typically pass through “middlemen, smelters and refineries in the United States and abroad,” making them difficult to track, and they are often stolen in less than a minute.
They cost around $1,000 new.
Wactor, 37, played the character Brando Corbin on General Hospital from 2020 to 2022.
In June, as he stood outside the scene where Wactor was shot to death in the 1200 block of Hope Street, Wactor’s friend Micah Parker called on District Attorney George Gascón to push for the maximum sentence for the killers and for city officials to do their jobs.
“This is the place to go because the city and its leaders need to understand where soft crime policies are leading,” Parker said. “It brings us to this point. It’s important to us that this story stays in the minds of his family and friends because we love him and he deserves justice.”
Gascón did not attend that rally, but his top deputy, Joseph Iniguez, told participants at the time that he could not discuss how the case would be handled before the arrests were made.
His ex-fiancée, Teresa Farrell, has also launched a campaign to help “find (Wactor’s) killers,” asking members of the community for help in doing so.
“If the person who did this, if you’re watching, I’m sorry, but you shot the wrong person,” she said in an Instagram post amid a steady stream of tears.
“You can get a real job,” he continued. “I know the job market is tough, but we’re all in this together. You don’t have to steal, let alone sacrifice your life for it.”
He went on to say that “human life is too easily ignored,” while insisting that it is time for us as a community to “make changes.”
“Maybe that’s Johnny’s gift to us,” he said, urging politicians to take note.
She said she met Wactor in 2013, shortly after moving to Los Angeles, when he was just making his way in the business.
He had come a long way since then, before his life was tragically cut short.
Scarlett Wactor, the budding star’s mother, said her son did not try to fight them off or even stop the attackers from robbing him, even though they shot him in cold blood.
Johnny’s brother Grant confirmed to DailyMail.com that Johnny was shot in the chest when he encountered the suspects, explaining that he and his co-worker had to park about two blocks away from the restaurant.
The couple were simply heading to their cars after finishing their shift, he said.
Police are still searching for the three men, all of whom are masked. No further clues have been revealed.
