Tragic Fate of ‘General Hospital’ Star: 4 Arrested in Catalytic Converter Shooting

Suspects Charged in Wactor’s Murder

Four sus­pects have been charged in con­nec­tion with the mur­der of “Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal” star John­ny Wac­tor, who was fatal­ly shot in May when he inter­rupt­ed thieves try­ing to steal the cat­alyt­ic con­vert­er from his car. The Los Ange­les Police Depart­ment announced the arrests on Thursday.

Wactor Targeted by Catalytic Converter Thieves

Wac­tor, 37, was shot in the chest around 3:25 a.m. on May 25 out­side a down­town LA night­club where he worked, after he con­front­ed three men who were try­ing to steal the cat­alyt­ic con­vert­er from his car. Police said one of the sus­pects fired at Wac­tor “with­out provo­ca­tion,” and he died from his wounds at a local hospital.

Suspects Charged with Murder and Accessory

Three of the sus­pects, ages 18 to 22, have been charged with mur­der, while a fourth, aged 22, was booked as an acces­so­ry. The sus­pects are from Hunt­ing­ton Park, Ingle­wood, and oth­er areas of Los Ange­les County.

Catalytic Converter Thefts on the Rise

Wac­tor’s killing made head­lines nation­wide and high­light­ed the grow­ing prob­lem of cat­alyt­ic con­vert­er thefts. Police were inves­ti­gat­ing a pos­si­ble con­nec­tion to the Flo­ren­cia 13 gang, which has been tied to such crimes in the region.

Calls for Justice and Accountability

Wac­tor’s moth­er, Scar­lett Wac­tor, plead­ed for any­one with infor­ma­tion to come for­ward, say­ing “Grief is my con­stant com­pan­ion.” The South Car­oli­na native was known for his role as Bran­don Corbin on the pop­u­lar TV soap opera “Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal” from 2020 to 2022.