Four people have been arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly killing American actor Johnny Wactor while trying to steal a part from his car.

Three – Robert Barceleau, Leonel Gutierrez, and Sergio Estrada – were arrested for murder.

A fourth, Frank Olano, faces a charge of accessory to murder, according to police.

The 37-year-old actor, who was featured in the soap opera General Hospital, was shot in the early morning of 25 May.

Authorities say he had finished a bartending shift at a bar in downtown Los Angeles and was walking to his car when he was confronted by three people. The trio had Wactor’s vehicle hoisted up with a floor jack and were “in the process of stealing the catalytic converter,” Los Angeles police said.

One of the suspects then shot Wactor, without provocation, and left him for dead, police said.

Wactor’s brother, Grant, told the LA Times that he was “one of the most charismatic people I knew”.

A tribute shared by producers at General Hospital said South Carolina-born Wactor was “truly one of a kind and a pleasure to work with each and every day”.

As well as a two-year stint on the show as Brando Corbin, Wactor also starred in the 2013 NBC series Siberia and featured in two episodes of HBO’s Westworld.

Thefts of catalytic converters have become a big problem in Los Angeles, with thousands stolen each year. Part of cars’ exhaust systems, they convert chemicals emitted by engine into less harmful ones for the environment.

The large number of hybrid vehicles in Los Angeles are especially tempting to thieves because such they do not wear down converters as quickly as cars that only run on gasoline.

Thefts also spiked during the pandemic because the devices contain precious metals that were in short supply then.