Friend describes moments before and after "General Hospital" actor Johnny Wactor fatally shot

The co-worker who was with "General Hospital" actor Johnny Wactor the night he was killed said he died in her arms after one of the people trying to steal a catalytic converter from his car fatally shot him in downtown Los Angeles.

Wactor, who played Brando Corbin on the daytime soap opera, was going home from a bartending shift when he and his co-worker saw a group of people surrounding his car around 3:30 a.m. near Hope Street and Pico Boulevard. She wrote on Instagram that, at first, they thought his car was being towed. Just moments later, someone from the group opened fire.

"Everything happened in an instant," his co-worker, Anita Joy, wrote in a post Wednesday.

The suspects in Wactor's killing remain at large and the Los Angeles Police Department has asked for help finding them.

They had Wactor's car propped up with a floor jack when he and his co-worker saw them, according to LAPD. Investigators have determined they were trying to steal a catalytic converter from the vehicle.

In an Instagram post, Joy wrote that she and Wactor "cautiously" approached the group before questioning them. 

"We were no threat and Johnny kept his cool as he always did, simply stating that it was his car and for them to leave, hands open to his sides in peace," Joy wrote. "Johnny was between me and the man who shot him -- as I heard the shot ring into the night, he forcefully tumbled back into my arms and as I grabbed for him, I shouted `hunny you ok?!' And he only responded `Nope! Shot!'," 

"We toppled onto the street where I pushed my legs under him and tried to hold his body up while screaming for help and screaming at him to stay with me," she wrote. 

Joy wrote that one of the security guards from the bar where they worked was crossing the street afterward and saw them. He ran over while calling 911 and they tied a denim jacket around Wactor's body to stop the bleeding. 

The security guard also tried performing CPR on Wactor, she wrote.

"It was too close range, too extreme of a wound for him to survive it but my god, he fought to stay."

He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Joy called for justice in her friend's killing, saying she's "heartbroken" and "angry" over his loss. 

"He was killed senselessly by a coward who reacted without care of the gorgeous life he was taking," she wrote.

According to LAPD, the three suspects were all wearing dark-colored clothing and driving a dark-colored sedan as they fled northbound on Hope Street. 

A statement issued Sunday by Wactor's talent agency, BRS/Gage, described him as a talented actor "committed to his craft" as well as "a real moral example to everyone who knew him."

"Standing for hard work, tenacity and a never give up attitude," the statement read. "In the highs and lows of a challenging profession he always kept his chin up and kept striving for the best he could be." 

Joy wrote Wactor had a rare ability "to make anyone and everyone feel so special in his eyes," and reflected lovingly on their friendship and time working together. She added that he had a "magnetic" energy, saying he "treated everyone with love, respect, compassion and he really `saw' you."

"My friend of 8 years went from laughing together, working side by side, leaving our bartending shift and walking to our cars, to him dying in my arms in the streets of DTLA in the dark hours of 3 am," Joy wrote. "He was beautiful, goofy as hell, full of work ethic and values, he never put people down, even when joking, he never made you feel unsure of yourself -- he knew how to be hilarious in such a positive way and it just made him that much more lovable."

Wactor also appeared on shows including "Westworld, "NCIS" and "Criminal Minds."

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD's Central Station at 213-486-6606. Those wishing to remain anonymous
can call LA Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or visit lacrimestoppers.org.