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Days after “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor was brutally shot and killed in Los Angeles on Sunday morning, his ex-fiancée Tessa Farrell is speaking out and pleading with LA officials to “make changes” and put an end to the rising crime in the city.
“It’s not OK. This can’t keep happening,” the actress said in a video posted on social media Monday. “So many lives are being lost… we have to be smarter as a community. We have to stop being so mean to each other. Let’s love each other, let’s not steal.”
‘GENERAL HOSPITAL’ ACTOR JOHNNY WACTOR’S DEATH LEAVES CAST ‘SICKENED’: ‘HE WAS TRULY ONE OF A KIND’
“Johnny’s above now, looking down. I’m so happy that I think he found happiness before he went because that was his dream in life is to be happy,” she added of the actor, who played Brando Corbin on the soap opera for 164 episodes from 2020 to 2022. “I think through all of you and all the fans of the show and all the work that he did and all of his friends, this guy was so popular. He was so fun. He was such a bright soul. He just lit up the room. He had his human flaws too, but he always sought to improve himself.”
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Farrell, who met Wactor in 2013, said she hadn’t seen the actor in a few years.
“We brought out the best in each other and then also the darkest parts of each other,” she mentioned. “Our lives were both forever changed.”
“It’s so sad that, you know, that this is how he had to get taken from us because he cared so much about doing the right thing and earning things,” she said. “He taught me that. I’m so proud of the man he’s become and it’s so sad crime in LA had to do this… These criminals can’t keep being on the street and they can’t keep being sent back and have no repercussions for their actions.”
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“If the person who did this, if you’re watching, I’m sorry, but you shot the wrong guy,” Farrell said. “You can get a real job. I know the job market’s hard, but we’re all in it together. You don’t have to steal. Especially take a life over it. Human life is disregarded too easy. We have to make some changes as a community. Support each other and come together. Maybe that’s what Johnny’s gift is for us. Maybe he’s gifting that to all of us. He was full of gifts.”
Johnny Wactor and Tessa Farrell met in 2013. (Getty | TikTok)
“Johnny if you’re watching from above, I love you very much and I’m very proud of you for the person you’ve become and the obstacles you’ve overcame,” said Farrell, who mentioned that Wactor had “found sobriety.” “You’ve forever inspired in my work and what I do and I wouldn’t be here without what you taught me. So thank you, Johnny. I love you. I miss you. I hope those last moments were OK for you and I’m glad someone was with you.”
“We should find these killers,” she concluded. “This guy was a rising star and a bright soul to this world. We can’t keep losing things like this because people are afraid to stand up and do what’s right. Johnny stood up and did what’s right all the time.”
A representative for the Los Angeles Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Johnny Wactor’s mother confirmed her son’s death to Fox News Digital on May 26. (Scott Kirkland/ABC via Getty Images)
The actor’s mother, Scarlett Wactor, spoke with Fox News Digital on the phone and confirmed the tragic news on Sunday.
According to her, Wactor and a co-worker were asked to stay late at a rooftop bar where he was bartending to clean and were returning to their cars around 3 or 3:30 a.m.
“They were walking to their car, and when they get there, Johnny’s car, which was parked in front of the co-worker’s, looked like it was jacked to one side, and from what I understand, he said, ‘Hey, man, you towing my car?’… And the person looked up and had a mask, and so then I guess he knew they weren’t doing that, and so he stepped in front of the co-worker and then backed up and put his hands up or both, and the person shot him,” Scarlett said.
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She noted that the place of employment did not have designated parking for employees.
“In my thought process… if he’d been two minutes earlier or two minutes later, he’d be alive.”
Per TMZ, which first reported the news, authorities have not confirmed Wactor’s identity, but the incident does match a reported case of three suspects trying to steal a catalytic converter. Descriptions of the suspects have not been released.
Jonny Wactor played Brando Corbin on the soap opera for 164 episodes from 2020 to 2022. (Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images)
Wactor’s mother said authorities are planning an autopsy, and the family will bring him back to South Carolina for funeral services when his body is released.
“What I’d like for everybody to know is that they took a great human being. It is leaving a very large hole in me and his brothers’ lives. We just buried my husband, their dad, four years ago. And he was very loved by his friends, his families. He lived life to the fullest, he chased his dreams, a very optimistic, positive person,” Scarlett Wactor said of her son.
She continued, “And the crazy thing is, he wasn’t trying to stop them from taking it. They could have just left or taken it, he probably would have just given them the car. They were very much a coward[ly] person… I hope they catch them, and I hope there’s justice for Johnny. That’s all I can hope and pray for. I will see him again. But down here on Earth, it’s going to be a very, very long road without him for me and his brothers.”
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Stanton contributed to this post.
Christina Dugan Ramirez is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital.
