Two teens have been charged with murder for the May shooting death of General Hospital actor Johnny Wactor.
On Monday, August 19, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced the charges.
Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the investigation into Wactor’s death. Robert Barceleau and Sergio Estrada, both 18, face murder charges. Meanwhile, Leonel Gutierrez, also 18, and 22-year-old Frank Olano have been charged with lesser offenses. The investigation is being conducted by the LAPD’s Central Bureau Homicide Division.
Barceleau, Estrada, and Gutierrez were charged with one count of attempted robbery involving the personal use of a firearm, as well as one count of grand theft with an allegation of being armed during the commission of the crime.
Barceleau has been charged with murder under special circumstances. Specifically for committing the act during an attempted robbery while personally using a firearm. He is facing the possibility of a life sentence without the chance of parole.
Meanwhile, Estrada has been charged with one count of murder, accompanied by an allegation of being armed with a firearm as a principal. He faces a potential maximum sentence of life in prison.
Olano has been charged with one count of being an accessory after the fact to murder, one count of receiving stolen property, and three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is facing a potential sentence of five years and eight months in prison. Meanwhile, Gutierrez faces a sentence of four years and eight months.
One of the Teens Charged with Murder in Wactor’s Shooting Death is Being Held Without Bail
Barceleau is currently being held without bail. Meanwhile, Estrada’s bail is set at $2,070,000, Olano at $1,080,000, and Gutierrez at $120,000. The defendants were arraigned on August 19 in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
The charges stem from the arrests of each man on Thursday, August 15. The arrests followed two weeks after the LAPD released still images captured from video footage. These images reportedly depict the suspects along with the stolen black Infiniti Q50 sedan that authorities claim they were driving on the day Wactor lost his life.
Wactor, 37, was shot dead in the early hours of May 25. As he finished his shift as a bartender at a downtown Los Angeles bar and headed to his car, he encountered three armed car thieves attempting to steal the catalytic converter from his vehicle.
Following his passing, a GoFundMe page was established to support Wactor’s family with expenses. It has garnered over $144,600 in donations as of August 20.