Four people were arrested on charges related to the murder of Johnny Wactor, the former General Hospital actor who was shot by assailants trying to steal his catalytic converter in May.
Robert Barceleau, Leonel Gutierrez, and Sergio Estrada, all 18, were arrested on murder charges early on Thursday morning, the LAPD confirmed in a press release. A fourth person, Frank Olano, 22, was also arrested and charged with accessory.
The three murder suspects were identified by police after investigators pulled their fingerprints off a floor jack they used to access the catalytic converter on Wactor’s car, the Los Angeles Times reported. The trio are being held on $2 million bail, the paper confirmed.
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Wactor, 37, was gunned down around 3:00 a.m. on May 25, after finishing his shift at a local bar. He walked to his car with a coworker, only to find three men trying to steal its catalytic converter.
“When Wactor arrived at his vehicle, he was confronted by three individuals who had Wactor’s vehicle raised up with a floor jack,” the original release from the LAPD read. “Without provocation, the victim was shot by one of the individuals.” The suspects reportedly fled in a black 2018 Infiniti Q50.
Wactor’s murder went unsolved for months. Less than two weeks ago, cops released photos of the suspects in hopes that the public could help identify them.
On Tuesday, the General Hospital actor’s friends and family held a press conference asking for the public’s help in solving the case. “I’m asking that anybody that knows anything please come forward,” said Wactor’s mother, Scarlett, the Associated Press reported. “It will help me and his brothers in our healing to know that they’ve been captured and convicted.”
“I want to thank LAPD for their partnership and hard work on this case and for their continued efforts to keep Angelenos safe and to bring justice to victims of violence,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement on Thursday. “Now, we must ensure that those who are responsible for this brazen and heinous act are held fully accountable.”
Read it at TMZ
