'General Hospital' Actor Johnny Wactor Shot, Killed During Robbery Attempt | TMZ Live
Johnny Wactor -- an actor best known for appearing in nearly 200 episodes of "General Hospital" -- has died, TMZ has learned.
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00:00 We have to talk about something that is so tragic
00:03 that happened in this city,
00:04 it's just hard to comprehend what happened.
00:07 - Yeah, the death of a former, a General Hospital star,
00:10 Johnny Wachter, was most known for playing,
00:14 for his role on General Hospital,
00:16 was shot and killed in downtown Los Angeles.
00:20 And he was leaving a restaurant where he works with,
00:25 and leaving with some other coworkers.
00:26 - Well, and in particular, it was about 3.45 in the morning,
00:29 it was downtown LA.
00:31 He was actually walking with a female coworker,
00:34 escorting her to her car,
00:37 because he wanted to do good there,
00:39 because you don't want somebody just walking alone in LA.
00:43 - And downtown LA is a dangerous place.
00:44 - And it certainly was.
00:46 - And when he approached, got right by his car,
00:49 he saw two men who were there, had his car up on a jack.
00:53 They were apparently trying to steal
00:55 the catalytic converter.
00:57 And it wasn't like he went after them,
01:01 he just yelled something.
01:02 - Well, he asked, "Are you towing my car?"
01:04 He didn't know what was going on.
01:05 - And one of those two men turned around
01:08 and shot and killed Johnny.
01:09 - And he was shielding, at the last moment,
01:14 he was shielding the woman to protect her.
01:17 So at 37 years old, it is unbelievable
01:21 that the suspect's still on the loose.
01:24 - And his ex-fiance just delivered
01:28 this tearful, gut-wrenching message.
01:31 - Yeah, had this to say about the tragedy.
01:34 - It's not okay.
01:35 This can't keep happening.
01:39 So many lives are being lost.
01:43 Just us not being smart.
01:45 We have to be smarter as a community.
01:47 I'm just so proud of the man he's become,
01:49 and it's so sad that crime in LA had to do this.
01:54 And I'm hoping that,
01:55 change some legislation to prevent this from happening.
01:59 These criminals can't keep being on the street,
02:01 and they can't keep being sent back
02:04 and have no repercussions for their actions.
02:06 The person who did this, if you're watching,
02:11 I'm sorry, but you shot the wrong guy.
02:15 You can get a real job.
02:19 I know the job market's hard,
02:22 but we're all in it together.
02:24 You don't have to steal.
02:26 - Yeah, it's really difficult to watch.
02:28 She's obviously very overcome with emotion.
02:31 She was his ex-fiance, so she knew him very, very well.
02:34 Talking about crime in LA,
02:36 there are statistics that say there's less crime,
02:39 but the way it feels in this city,
02:40 you and I can attest to this, Harvey.
02:41 We talk about it all the time.
02:43 It does feel quite dangerous for a crime of property
02:45 to evolve so quickly into a murder.
02:48 It's just really disheartening.
02:50 - I'm Nina from Dallas, Texas,
02:52 and I think it's really sad
02:54 that his life was taken in such a manner.
02:56 And I think he instinctively just wanted to make sure
02:59 that nothing was going wrong with his car,
03:01 and now this is what's happened.
03:04 And LA really needs to do something about the crime
03:07 because these people are still on the loose.
03:10 - That's for sure.
03:10 And it is, I think what has been most shocking
03:13 about it for everyone in LA is just to realize
03:16 this wasn't a thing where he was engaged
03:18 in some sort of physical altercation with them.
03:21 - Right, he was passive.
03:22 - It could have happened to anyone.
03:23 Where you walk up to your car and be like,
03:24 oh, what's going on?
03:25 - And they shoot you.
03:26 And they kill you.
03:27 - Right.
03:27 - Wow.
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