Johnny Wactor. Steven Bergman/AFF-USA.COM / MEGA
Johnny Wactor was cremated after he was fatally shot at the age of 37.
The late actor’s death certificate stated that Wactor’s remains were transferred to his mother, Scarlett, according to TMZ. He was cremated and now rests at her home in South Carolina.
Wactor was shot in Los Angeles on May 25 while shielding his coworker from three men who were attempting to steal the catalytic converter from his car. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital. 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.”
Johnny’s cause of death was listed as homicide on a coroner’s report obtained by Us Weekly. His manner of death was confirmed as a gunshot wound to the chest.
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Days after the tragedy, Scarlett spoke exclusively to Us about her son’s death.
“When the person looked up he had on a mask, like a bandana,” she said on May 29. “When he saw that he immediately knew something was wrong, and that’s when he stepped in front of his coworker.”
Scarlett explained that her son initially believed his car was being towed, so he approached the vehicle.
“The car was jacked to one side, angled near his car, and one person was down low. That’s why he said, ‘Hey, man, you towing my car?’ He was not angry from what I believe,” she told Us. “He put his hands up and backed up or both, and they shot him.”
Scarlett thought that Johnny “would have given [the assailants] the car,” adding that they “took a wonderful person for no reason.”
“If you read and see the outpouring of love, Johnny was such a bright light for anyone and everyone, and he offered to help anyone,” she continued, noting that she wants “justice” for her son and does not want the incident to become “a cold case.”
Johnny’s coworker Anita Joy also spoke out about the tragedy, detailing his final moments of protecting her from the assailants.
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“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!’” she wrote via Instagram on May 29. “We toppled onto the street, 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.”
“It was too close range, too extreme of a wound for him to survive it,” she added. “But my God, he fought to stay.”
Joy noted that she was “heartbroken and so very angry” about her friend’s death, writing that her “only other peace will be seeing these awful men brought to justice.”
