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LOS ANGELES — Actor James Handy, who most recently appeared in “Top Gun: Maverick,” was stabbed to death by his girlfriend’s son in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, authorities said.
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Handy was 81.
The suspect, Michael Gledhill, 44, flagged down Los Angeles police officers after a 911 call was made around 9:30 a.m., the police department said.
The 911 caller said, “I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin,” the police department said in a statement Thursday.
A representative for Handy confirmed his death.
“With great sadness I can confirm that the gentleman who was attacked and killed on Wednesday in Tarzana was the actor James Handy,” Handy’s talent agent, Pam Ellis-Evenas, said in a statement.
Wendy Gledhill, 76, was Handy’s girlfriend and the mother of the suspect. She told NBC News in a phone call Friday afternoon she is very overwhelmed and shared the following statement, “I loved James, this should have never happened to him. I’m sorry to his family and his friends.”
Officers who responded to the 911 call found Handy unconscious in the front yard of a home in Tarzana with a stab wound in his chest, police said.
When officers arrived, Gledhill flagged them down and was “telling them he was the one they were looking for,” police said.
Gledhill, who lives at the home with his mother, was arrested and booked on a count of murder, police said.
He was still in custody Thursday night, according to online jail records. He was being held in lieu of $2 million bail.
Online court records did not show a case for Gledhill on Thursday night, and it was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
According to Wendy Gledhill, the family has not yet retained legal representation.
On Friday afternoon, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately say when charges against Gledhill will be officially filed in court.
Police said that the stabbing appeared to be isolated and that there was no danger to the public.
Tarzana, where the stabbing occurred, is a neighborhood in the northwest part of Los Angeles.
In addition to the 2022 film “Top Gun: Maverick,” in which Handy played the bartender Jimmy, he also appeared in “Arachnophobia” and “Jumanji” and had many TV roles.
He played a doctor in the 2017 film “Logan,” about the X-Men character Wolverine, and had roles in “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “CSI: New York,” “NYPD Blue” and “Law & Order,” among many others.
Phil Helsel reported from Los Angeles, and Emmy Beck-Aden and Nicole Acevedo from New York City.
Phil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.
Emmy Beck-Aden is an associate booking producer for NBC News.
Nicole Acevedo is a news reporter for NBC News.
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