Veteran actor James Handy, best known for his work in Top Gun: Maverick, Jumanji and a long list of hit TV crime dramas, was killed in a shocking stabbing outside a Los Angeles-area home.
Handy, 81, was allegedly stabbed in the chest on the front lawn of his girlfriend’s home in Tarzana, California, before later dying at a hospital.
Now, disturbing new details have emerged about the moments after the attack.
According to reports, the suspected killer, Michael Gledhill, 44, was captured on a neighbor’s doorbell camera walking calmly down the street away from the scene.
Gledhill is the adult son of Handy’s girlfriend and reportedly lived at the home with his mother.
The chilling footage, first obtained by Fox 11 Los Angeles, allegedly shows Gledhill strolling away from the house moments after Handy had been stabbed and left dying in the front yard.
But in a bizarre twist, Gledhill later returned to the home.
A police report states that the suspect “flagged down nearby responding officers” and told them he was the person they were looking for.
Officers had already been called to the area after a disturbing 911 call reported violence at the home.
According to reports, the unidentified caller told dispatchers: “I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin.”
Authorities have not confirmed whether Gledhill was the person who made that call.
When officers arrived, they found Handy unconscious in the front yard with a stab wound to his chest.
Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics rushed the actor to a nearby hospital, but he could not be saved.
Gledhill was arrested and charged with murder.
Police said the motive remains under investigation, but detectives believe the stabbing was an isolated incident. Authorities also said there does not appear to be any continuing danger to the public.
The brutal killing has stunned those who knew Handy, a longtime working actor whose career stretched across nearly five decades.
His agent, Pam Ellis-Evans, confirmed his death and paid tribute to him in an emotional statement.
“With great sadness I can confirm that the gentleman who was attacked and killed on Wednesday in Tarzana was the actor James Handy,” she said.
She added: “I could not have asked for a more talented, humble or gracious client and friend than James Handy.”
Handy was born in New York and began his acting career in 1977 with a role on the soap opera Ryan’s Hope.
His big-screen debut came in the 1981 military drama Taps, which starred Tom Cruise, Sean Penn and Giancarlo Esposito.
Over the years, Handy became a familiar face to movie and TV fans.
He appeared as an exterminator in the 1995 family adventure film Jumanji and had a role in the 1990 horror-comedy Arachnophobia.
He also played a doctor in the 2017 Wolverine film Logan.
More recently, Handy appeared in the 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, starring Tom Cruise, where he played the bartender Jimmy.
His television credits were just as impressive.
Handy appeared in NCIS: Los Angeles, CSI: NY, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, The Closer, Cold Case and The X-Files.
For decades, he was the kind of actor audiences recognized instantly, even if they did not always know his name.
Now, fans and colleagues are mourning a respected performer whose life ended in a horrifying act of violence.
Gledhill remains accused of murder as investigators continue working to determine what led to the deadly confrontation.
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