Johnny Wactor Co-Worker Describes Horrifying Final Moments: “Everything Happened In An Instant”
In an emotional and disturbing account of the final moments in the life of General Hospital actor Johnny Wactor, the co-worker who was with him when he was shot by a thief provides new details of what she calls the “unimaginable events” of that night.
“Everything happened in an instant,” writes Anita Joy in an Instagram message. “I’ve come to describe it as a glass of water that gets tipped over and you’re scrambling to grab it and save it from spilling out completely but it just runs through your fingertips and is gone.”
More from Deadline
Joy writes that she and Wactor, whom she affectionately calls Johnny Wacky, had finished their late shift at a downtown L.A. bar when, at about 3 a.m. last Saturday, the two were walking to their cars parked nearby. Friends for eight years, Wactor and Joy were “laughing together, walking side by side” when the encountered three people standing by Wactor’s vehicle.
“We cautiously approached the men,” she writes, “questioning what they were doing, at first thinking the car was being towed. 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. 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,” she continues, “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.”
At that point, she says, a security guard from the bar, identified only as Bryan, came running to the wounded man while calling 911 on his phone. The guard wrapped a denim jacket around Wactor in an attempt to stop the bleeding, and began performing CPR.
“It was too close range,” she writes, “too extreme of a wound for him to survive it but my god, he fought to stay. My only peace is that I was with him and this didn’t happen to him alone – my only other peace will be seeing these awful men brought to justice.”
In addition to calling for justice and directing readers to the Go Fund Me page set up by Wactor’s family, Joy also calls out the bar where the two worked to provide late-night staff with secure parking “to prevent anything like this ever happening again to the best of their ability.” The bar, she says, “needs to contribute to Johnny’s family to honor and respect him for all the hard work and effort he did for them.”
She further describes Wactor: “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. It just filled your heart to be around him. He called me ‘Anita Bonita’ and I hope the stamp of his voice saying that every time I saw him never leaves my memory. Just one look into his big blue eyes, followed by a big goofy grin, Johnny made you love him instantly. Absolutely one of the best men I’ve ever known. I’m so grateful to have been a part of his world and him, mine.”
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
