Actor Johnny Wactor, who played Brando Corbin on General Hospital, was gunned down Saturday as he tried to protect a co-worker from armed thieves who shot him dead as they allegedly tried to make off with a catalytic converter.
Wactor, 37, was walking the unidentified friend to her own car in Los Angeles when he came across the three thieves who’d jacked up his car at around 3:25 a.m. Saturday, his brother Grant told the Daily Mail.
“We’re Southern, born and raised, and we would never let a female walk to their car by herself,” the bereft brother said. “He came across them and he thought his truck was being towed. So he said something to the guys, like, ‘Hey, are you towing?’
File/Actor Johnny Wactor is seen in Old City on October 29, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)
“And then once he turned around, he saw what was happening and he put his coworker behind him. And that’s when they shot him.”
The actor was backing away and attempting to shield his co-worker when the men gunned him down, Grant alleged, citing the Los Angeles Police Department’s assessment of the scene.
The actor’s mom, Scarlett Wactor, also confirmed to NBC News how her son has stepped in front of the co-worker to protect her and paid with his life, calling him “a light in a dark room.”
“There is a huge hole in all of us, and there is no fixing that,” she said.
His agent David Shaul told Variety the late actor was an “outstanding human being”. He continued: “He would literally give you the shirt off his back.
“After over a decade together, he will leave a hole in our hearts forever.”
As well as a two-year stint on General Hospital, Wactor also starred in the 2013 NBC series Siberia and featured in two episodes of HBO’s Westworld.
As Breitbart News reported, Wactor’s tragic death comes when Los Angeles has experienced an unprecedented crime wave that has claimed several celebrity victims in the past two years.
In August 2023, for instance, two victims were robbed at gunpoint outside of the celebrity-frequented restaurant Craig’s on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood.