Early Saturday morning, the 37-year-old actor was fatally shot after police say he discovered a group of men trying to steal his car's catalytic converter.
Beloved actor Johnny Wactor is being remembered as a hero after he was fatally shot while shielding a friend as thieves tried to steal his car’s catalytic converter.
Wactor was best known for his role as Brando Corbin on the soap opera, “General Hospital.”
Early Saturday morning, the 37-year-old was fatally shot after police say he discovered his Toyota Prius placed on a car jack and he confronted the men surrounding his vehicle.
Tessa Farrell, Wactor’s devastated former fiancé, tells Inside Edition she wears her engagement ring as a reminder of her former love.
“It’s something you never want to hear,” Farrell says. “It’s horrific. This is a huge loss for humanity. It’s so sad, just over something so trivial like a car part.”
Authorities say Wactor was leaving his bartending job in Downtown Los Angeles and was walking out a female coworker when he saw the group of men. Police say he thought his car was being towed when he called out to them.
Wactor’s close friend and film producer Micah Parker explained what happened to Inside Edition.
“He said, ‘What, am I being towed,’ and one of the guys stood up and he saw they had a mask on and he recognized something was off. So he, from what I understand, he shielded his friend and the guy opened fire and shot and killed Johnny,” Parker says.
Catalytic converters are populate targets for thieves. Thieves often jack up cars and slide underneath with chainsaws to steal the car part, which contains precious metals.
Catalytic converters reduce the amount of pollution that comes out cars. Theft of the car part has increased because of the value of some materials that go into making it have skyrocketed.
“These criminals aren’t getting held responsible and now it’s escalating to gun violence and death,” Farrell says.
Police say they are gathering surveillance video from the scene to further investigate the tragic incident.
