Los Angeles police are executing search warrants seeking to make arrests in the slaying of “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor, law enforcement sources said Thursday.
The sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said the investigation is centered on the 13 Florencia gang members linked to catalytic converter thefts in the region.
A probable cause statement used to obtain the arrest warrants named Robert Barceleau, Sergio Estrada and Leonel Gutierrez as suspects. The three were identified after police said their fingerprints matched those obtained from a hydraulic jack they used while trying to steal Wactor’s catalytic converter.
After reviewing video and interviewing witnesses, Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives identified three men, one of them with distinctive facial tattoos, who they say carjacked Wactor on Hope Street near Pico Boulevard to steal his catalytic converter before shooting and killing him on May 25.
A probable cause statement used to obtain the arrest warrants named Robert Barceleau, Sergio Estrada and Leonel Gutierrez as suspects. All three were identified after police said their fingerprints matched those obtained from a hydraulic jack they used while trying to steal Wactor’s catalytic converter.
Wactor had finished a shift at the nearby Level 8 bar around 3:20 a.m. when he and co-worker Anita Joy were walking to their car and interrupted the robbers.
Wactor initially thought his car was being taken, Joy said. After realizing that was not the case, he asked the men to leave, showing his open hands to indicate he was not a threat. Instead, he was shot at point-blank range, Joy said. A security guard at the bar said he found Joy and Wactor, who were mortally wounded, and called 911.
Joy asked Wactor if he was OK and he replied, “No. I was shot,” according to the probable cause statement.
After the shooting, the suspects fled north on Hope Street in a stolen getaway vehicle described as a black, four-door 2018 Infiniti Q50 with a tan interior, police said.
Thieves target catalytic converters because they contain precious metals, such as rhodium, palladium and platinum. They can be sold for hundreds of dollars to auto parts suppliers or scrap yards, where they can be melted down and the valuable metals extracted.
Catalytic converter thefts have skyrocketed in California during the COVID-19 pandemic. That led to new state laws prohibiting recyclers from purchasing the parts from anyone other than the legal owner of the vehicle or a licensed dealer. Penalties have been increased for buyers who fail to certify that a catalytic converter has not been stolen.
