The girlfriend of “Top Gun: Maverick” star James Handy, whose son is accused of fatally stabbing the veteran actor, was overcome with grief as she spoke about her son’s alleged actions.
Michael Gledhill, 44, is accused of stabbing Handy several times in the chest — the 81-year-old actor was found unconscious and bleeding out in the front yard of a home in Tarzana Wednesday morning.
Wendy Gledhill, Handy’s girlfriend and Michael’s mother, spoke exclusively with The California Post outside her home Friday morning.
“I’m just trying to make it through one day at a time, a minute at a time,” 76-year-old Wendy said.
“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 …,” she added before stepping inside.
Gledhill’s neighbors described Michael as sometimes acting bizarre and paranoid.
“He looked really rugged … he looks like he doesn’t really change his clothes,” neighbor Joheina Quibol told The Post. She also described a bizarre interaction her father once had with Michael when he allegedly came over and asked her father about cameras they had inside the home. Quibol described Michael as being “paranoid.” She also thought he may have struggled with mental health issues.
Authorities responded to a home on the 19200 block of Erwin Street in Tarzana on Wednesday morning after a caller reportedly told dispatchers, “I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin.”
After he was discovered unconscious in the yard, Handy was rushed to a local hospital where he was declared dead, according to police.
Michael waved officers down as they approached the home, letting them know he was the suspect, cops said. He was arrested for murder and is currently being held with a $2,000,000 bond.
Handy’s acting career spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s, his last role was as bartender Jimmy in “Top Gun: Maverick.”
He was also known for portraying an exterminator in the 1995 hit “Jumanji,” which starred Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, Kirsten Dunst and Jonathan Hyde.
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Over the course of his career, Handy amassed nearly 150 screen credits, appearing in a wide range of television series, including The West Wing, 9-1-1, NCIS: Los Angeles, CSI: NY, The Young and the Restless, Castle, Criminal Minds, Cold Case, Without a Trace, ER, The X-Files and Mulaney.
Authorities have not yet disclosed what may have sparked Wednesday morning’s deadly attack.
