Los Angeles police detectives are collecting surveillance video and searching for fingerprints as they search for the group of catalytic converter thieves who killed Johnny Wactor of “General Hospital” Saturday morning in downtown Los Angeles.
Wactor was killed around 3:25 a.m. as he left a bar where he worked. He encountered three people near Pico Boulevard and Hope Street who were trying to steal the car part, authorities said. One of the robbers shot Wactor, 37, before fleeing.
Law enforcement sources say police are trying to obtain fingerprints from Wactor's car and are searching for video from the area. They are also checking to see if there is any connection to other catalytic converter thefts nearby. LAPD investigators say they have seen an increase in violence when confronted with these types of thieves.
On Tuesday, LAPD officials released additional information about the crime.
“When Wactor arrived at his vehicle, he was confronted by three individuals who had raised Wactor's vehicle with a floor jack and were in the process of stealing the catalytic converter,” authorities said in a news release. “Without any provocation, the victim was shot by one of the individuals. “The three suspects involved were wearing dark clothing and driving a dark-colored sedan.”
Catalytic converters, which control exhaust emissions, are typically found in a vehicle's undercarriage and contain precious metals such as rhodium, palladium and platinum. Thieves can make hundreds of dollars by selling them to auto parts suppliers or scrap yards, where they can melt them down and extract the valuable metals.
Catalytic converter thefts spiked in California during the COVID-19 pandemic, which some attributed to increased economic hardship. The trend prompted new state laws that make it illegal for recyclers to buy the parts from anyone other than the legal owner of the vehicle or an authorized dealer and increased penalties for buyers who fail to certify that a catalytic converter was not stolen.
Police say it's difficult to hold thieves accountable because they can't always prove that a person in possession of a stolen auto part played a role in the theft.
In 2022, approximately 8,000 catalytic converter thefts were reported in Los Angeles. Figures for 2023 were not immediately available.
Wactor played Brando Corbin on “General Hospital” from 2020 to 2022. He had roles in other shows, including “Westworld,” “Criminal Minds” and “Station 19.”
Wactor had recently been exploring opportunities in screenwriting while working as a bartender.
