The woman who was with Johnny Wactor at the time of his death is speaking out.
As Mamas Uncut previously reported, Wactor was killed when he came up on several people reportedly trying to steal the catalytic converter out of his car.
He was walking with his co-worker Anita Joy to their cars at the end of their shift at Level 8 in Downtown Los Angeles.
“I’ve needed to take some time to collect myself and my thoughts,” Joy began her statement she shared on Instagram on Wednesday, May 29.
“I was with Johnny in his last moments and I’m here to be his voice after such unimaginable events,” she added. “His story is in this post as it happened.”
As Joy continued, she wrote that Wactor “was killed senselessly by a coward who reacted without care of the gorgeous life he was taking. So I’m angry, I’m sad and I’m all of the feelings at once… but above all, I am here for Johnny’s justice.”
Joy explained that she struggled with “what to and what not to” share, but has decided to say it all because she has a “responsibility to Johnny.”
Joy call Wactor “friend of 8 years” before describing the events of that night in detail, writing that they” went from laughing together, working side by side, leaving our bartending shift and walking to our cars, to him dying in my arms in the streets of DTLA in the dark hours of 3 a.m.”
She confirmed the “basic details of this horrific story” that have been reported by several news agencies, adding that it comes down “to a few criminals trying to steal a car part.”
“Everything happened in an instant. I’ve come to describe it as a glass of water that gets tipped over and you’re scrambling to grab it and save it from spilling out completely but it just runs through your fingertips and is gone.”
She explained how she and Wactor “cautiously approached the men, questioning what they were doing, at first thinking the car was being towed. We were no threat.”
“Johnny kept his cool as he always did, simply stating that it was his car and for them to leave. Hands open to his sides in peace. 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,’” Joy said of Johnny’s final moments.
She recalled how they “toppled onto the street” and how she “pushed my legs under him and tried to hold his body up while screaming for help and screaming at him to stay with me.”
A security guard that worked for Level 8 with Joy and Wactor has crossed the street soon after, running toward them and calling 911. The security guard, identified as Bryan, then attempted to perform CPR on Wactor, “trying with all his might to save Johnny,” as Joy wrapped her jacket around his wound to slow the bleeding.
But “it was too close range, too extreme of a wound for him to survive it but my god, he fought to stay,” Joy wrote.
“I am utterly heartbroken and so very angry. My only peace is that I was with him and this didn’t happen to him alone – my only other peace will be seeing these awful men brought to justice.”
Joy remembered Wactor’s kind spirit and how he “lit up any room. […] His energy was magnetic and pulled you in so effortlessly – you were safe with him.”
“It just filled your heart to be around him. He called me ‘Anita Bonita’ and I hope the stamp of his voice saying that every time I saw him never leaves my memory,” Joy added.
“My heart is shattered with his loss but I believe l have gained the best guardian Angel out there. I love you Johnny Wacky.”
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