Johnny Wactor has been cremated after his shooting death at age 37.
According to TMZ, the late actor’s remains are with his mother, Scarlett, at her South Carolina home.
Wactor was shot and killed on May 25, after encountering armed robbers who were trying to steal a catalytic converter from his car. He protected his female co-worker from the thieves when he was gunned down.
His mother, Scarlett Wactor, told TMZ at the time that her son was a “loving young man” and his death “leaves a huge hole in the family’s heart.”
Wactor’s mother confirmed to NBC News that Anita Joy was the friend and colleague who was with her son when he was shot in the chest.
Joy opened up about the tragedy and paid tribute to Wactor in an Instagram post.
“I was with Johnny in his last moments and I’m here to be his voice after such unimaginable events,” she wrote days after the shooting.
“My heart is shattered with his loss but I believe l have gained the best guardian Angel out there,” she went on.
Several of his “General Hospital” co-stars, such as Kirsten Storms, Sofia Mattsson, Ashton Arbab and Lydia Look, paid tribute to the late actor on social media.
“I’m in a state of disbelief and complete sadness,” said Storms, 40. “I don’t typically do posts like this, but Johnny was such a special person and it feels important (for me) to put these words out there.”
Arbab’s tribute read, “Absolutely heartbroken while typing this. Johnny Wactor was not only my TV dad for more than 25 episodes on General Hospital but he was a great human, a kind soul, an inspiration on and off set and a one of a kind actor.”
Wactor’s distraught ex fiancee, Tessa Farrell, made an appeal to the criminals, who have been at large since the shooting.
“If the person who did this, if you’re watching, I’m sorry, but you shot the wrong guy,” Farrell said through tears in a video posted Monday. “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.”
Wactor’s family later revealed that they did not want Farrell speaking out on the tragedy. Scarlett claimed to TMZ that Farrell had not stayed in touch with her son for at least two to three years before his death.
His co-star Carolyn Hennesy, meanwhile, revealed that the show’s set has been “somber” since his death.
“It was a homicide, so that lays a special ugly overlay to his particular death,” she told People at the Celebrating Aspiring Magazine Summer Edition event on Tuesday.
The actress explained that the cast and crew of the soap series were in disbelief learning that Wactor — who portrayed Brando Corbin between 2020 through 2022 — was brutally murdered.
“I think people have processed a bit,” said Hennesy. “We were dark last week, so people are processing in their own way.”
“Also, I did not know him to the extent that I know a lot of other people,” she added. “But any death, period, any death on the show, any death in my industry, I take it to heart.”
Wactor’s funeral is set to take place in Summerville, South Carolina, on June 15, his mother confirmed.
