4 people arrested in shooting death of "General Hospital" actor Johnny Wactor
Police announced the arrests made in connection with the May shooting death of the former "General Hospital" actor, Johnny Wactor, Thursday afternoon.
Later in the day, the Los Angeles Police Department identified the suspects as 18-year-old Robert Barceleau, 18-year-old Leonel Gutierrez, 18-year-old Sergio Estrada and 22-year-old Frank Olano.
Barceleau, Gutierrez and Estrada have been booked for murder. Officers booked Olano as an accessory to the crime.
"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," Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. "Now, we must ensure that those who are responsible for this brazen and heinous act are held fully accountable."
The arrests come just days after Wactor's friends and family gathered at a downtown Los Angeles news conference to plead for the public's help in finding the person or people responsible for the actor's death.
The former "General Hospital" star, 37, was fatally shot on May 25 in downtown Los Angeles. He had just finished his bartending shift and was walking to his car on Hope Street and Pico Boulevard when he was shot and killed by suspects as they were attempting to steal his catalytic converter.
A little over a week ago, LAPD detectives released still security images of three suspects and a vehicle in connection with Wactor's killing as they renewed their calls for information.
Frustration had been building among Wactor's family, friends and community members as months went by without any information about the three suspects, leaving the killing unsolved.
In June, Wactor's friend, Micah Parker, led a march in downtown Los Angeles to raise awareness of his friend's death.
"We want anyone with any information to come forward," Parker said.
The group started their march near the shooting scene and continued to Los Angeles City Hall, where they spoke out against violence and crime in L.A.
"We want our city leaders, the mayor, the [district attorney], city council to at least admit that we have a problem so that we can address it and move forward with safer streets," Parker said.
Two months later, at a news conference on Tuesday, Wactor's mother, Scarlett Wactor, continued pleas to the public, begging for information about her son's killer.
"I'm asking that anybody that knows anything, please come forward. It will help me and his brothers in our healing to know that they have been captured and convicted, and [with] the strongest penalty. So, I'm begging you, please call, please give them any information you know," Scarlett Wactor said.
