The girlfriend of Top Gun Maverick star James Handy claimed her son was schizophrenic and had stopped taking his medication before he allegedly killed her partner.
Wendy Gledhill, 76, spoke 48 hours after her son Michael was accused of stabbing the 81-year-old actor to death outside his home in Tarzana, California.
She explained that her son, 44, struggled with mental health issues and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but had gone off his meds.
‘[Handy’s family] know I loved him so much. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry this happened. I’m still in shock. I still can’t comprehend it,’ she told TMZ.
Gledhill was shell-shocked on Friday, telling the California Post, ‘I loved James and my son.
‘I still can’t believe it… I can’t believe my son did it. I’m just trying to… I’m just trying to make it through one day at a time, a minute at a time.’
Handy was fatally knifed at his home on Wednesday morning and was found bleeding to death in the front yard.
James Handy was murdered at his California home on Wednesday, allegedly by his girlfriend Wendy Gledhill’s son Michael. She has now spoken out
Surveillance footage from the scene captured suspect Michael Gledhill casually walking past the suburban home before he returned with police
The veteran actor, who also appeared in Jumanji and The X-Files, was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Michael is said to have waved Los Angeles Police Department officers down after the killing and said: ‘I am the son of man. I just killed the man of sin.’
He has since been taken into custody and is due to appear before a court later on Friday.
Police have yet to share a possible motive for the killing.
Authorities claim Michael, who lived at the home with his mother and Handy, called 911 at around 9.30am to alert police to the horror.
Security footage from a house next door obtained by Fox 11 Los Angeles showed Gledhill ambling down the sidewalk, as bloody clothes lay nearby.
The suspect then returned to the house a short time later, at which point police say he had flagged down the responding officers – and told them he was the one they were looking for.
A motive for the attack remains unclear, but neighbors claimed Michael and Handy had been arguing overnight.
Handy as the exterminator in the film, Jumanji, where he starred alongside Kirsten Dunst
Doorbell camera footage is said to show Michael walking near Handy’s home after the killing
One resident also told Fox 11 he believed Gledhill had been suffering from delusions prior to the attack on Wednesday.
Handy was born in New York City and made his first on-screen appearance in ABC’s Ryan’s Hope in 1977, the same year he appeared in the film Taps.
He had nearly 150 film and television credits to his name and most recently appeared in Top Gun: Maverick as the bartender, Jimmy.
Handy’s other film credits include an appearance in Logan as the doctor who treated Hugh Jackman’s titular character. In the 1995 hit Jumanji, Handy played the exterminator.
The actor also had recurring roles on shows like NYPD Blue, where he played Captain Haverhill; Alias, where he portrayed Arthur Devlin and Profile, as Lou Handleman.
Handy made appearances on numerous other television shows, including The West Wing and Castle.
‘With great sadness, I can confirm that the gentleman who was attacked and killed on Wednesday in Tarzana was the actor James Handy,’ his talent agent, Pam Ellis-Evenas, said in a statement.
