Prosecutors filed murder charges this Friday (5) against the man arrested by fatal stabbing from the veteran Hollywood actor James Handya familiar face in dozens of films and television shows over half a century and the boyfriend of the suspect’s mother.
If convicted, Michael Gledhill44 years old, who was detained as a suspect on Wednesday (3), could face up to 26 years in prisonthe Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office reported.
In a separate statement on Thursday (4), police said that Gledhill was arrested after approaching police officers near the crime scenein the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles, on Wednesday, and told officers that he was the person they were looking for.
Police said the officers were dispatched in response to a mysterious 911 call made by a man who told dispatchers: “I am the son of man. I just killed the man of sin.”
Police responding to the incident found an 81-year-old man unconscious on the lawn in front of his girlfriend’s house, with a stab in the chest. He was pronounced dead shortly afterward at a nearby hospital, the Los Angeles Police Department said. According to police, Gledhill lived at his mother’s house.
The victim was later identified as Handy, a prolific supporting actor whose film credits include supporting roles in “Confessions of a Teenager,” “Arachnophobia,” “Jumanji,” “Unbreakable” and “Logan.”
His last prominent film appearance was playing an older bartender named Jimmy, at a bar frequented by military fighter pilots, in the 2022 Tom Cruise hit, .
Handy has also appeared on dozens of television shows since the 1970s, often playing police officers or authority figures.
Police described the murder as an isolated incident but did not provide any possible motive for the crime. Gledhill was scheduled to make his first court appearance on Friday, but it was not immediately clear whether he had obtained legal representation.
Handy’s death marked the second high-profile celebrity stabbing murder in Los Angeles in six months. In December, the actor and director, photographer and producer Michele Reiner were killed in their Brentwood mansion. The couple’s youngest son, Nick Reiner, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder by the .
