Shawn Butler (Sean Blakemore)


 * Shawn redirects here. For other uses of the name, see Shawn or Sean (disambiguation)

Shawn Butler is a fictional character on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital.

He was portrayed by Sean Blakemore from January 24, 2011 to May 27, 2015.

Casting and characterization
Actor Sean Blakemore, known for his small roles on soap operas such as ' and ', originated the role of Shawn Butler on January 24, 2011, on a recurring basis. In April, it was reported that Blakemore had signed a contract with the series.

When Blakemore started to appear less frequently in February 2012, many fans were led to believe Blakemore had been left go. It was later confirmed that Blakemore had taken some time off to shoot a movie.

During an interview with BE Magazine in October 2011, Blakemore discusses his character. He describes Shawn as someone with professional skills, but also a man with a lot of personal issues.

Sean Blakemore was let go from show and last aired May 27, 2015.

Background
Shawn Butler was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. As a kid, Shawn admires his father, Grannigan, who is known around the neighborhood as "Big Ray" Butler. One night when Shawn is six years old, he and Ray go to store, and Shawn watches as his father is gunned down.

Shawn is a former U.S. Marine and suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; he also worked as Science teacher before enlisting in the marines. While stationed in Afghanistan, Shawn befriends fellow soldier Tommy Ashford.

Shawn is devastated when he accidentally kills Tommy during a friendly fire incident. Shawn began suffering from PTSD when he accidentally injured a young girl in Afghanistan. Shawn's mother is deceased and he has two sisters.

In 2014, it is revealed that Shawn and Jordan had an affair before TJ was born and that when Tommy found a letter about the DNA test proving that Tommy, not Shawn, was TJ's father, confirming Shawn and Jordan's affair, he became so enraged that he attacked Shawn. Tommy pulled a gun but before he could kill Shawn, Shawn killed him first.

On May 22, 2015, Jordan confirmed that Shawn, not Tommy, is in fact TJ's father.

Storylines
Shawn Butler first appears in January 2011 comforting Molly Lansing who is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Shawn opens up about his own PTSD struggles and talks her through it. Molly’s aunt, Carly Jacks later shows her gratitude by offering him a room at her hotel, but he declines. It's soon revealed that Shawn is working for Theo Hoffman who is also secretly operating as the Balkan, an international crime lord. On Theo’s orders, Shawn is sent to kidnap Brenda Barrett on February 18, just before her wedding. However, several visitors get in his way and Shawn can't get to Brenda. He later heads back to Theo's office and calls him awaiting his next orders, he is then confronted by Sam McCall who reveals she knows all about The Balkan and his plans. After a brief struggle he grabs and holds Sam at gunpoint, Sam's boyfriend Jason Morgan then arrives and pulls out his gun and warns Shawn not to hurt Sam or he's a dead man. After holding each other at gunpoint Shawn explains he only recently started to work for Theo and that he was was a free-lancer and instead off following orders he walked away not wanting to bring harm to women or children. Jason and Sam realize Shawn doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and convince him to help bring down Theo.
 * -|2011-12=

Theo realizes Shawn has betrayed him and decides Shawn has to be taken out so after Jason and Shawn attempt to lure Theo to a location he sends his men in his place and orders them to open fire turning it into a shootout. Jason got away but Carly finds a wounded Shawn passed out on the side of the road and brings him to her house and helps him tend to his wound. Sonny Corinthos Carly's ex soon arrives at her house looking for Shawn as he blames him for having a role in planting the car bomb and with the disappearance of his now wife Brenda. Shawn tells Sonny he had nothing to do with it and that it was all Theo's plan, Sonny doesn't believe it and has his goons tie Shawn up with orders to kill him if he doesn't talk. Sonny ultimately doesn't do anything and when he leaves Shawn is taken to the hospital to get proper care.

During Shawn’s hospital stay, Theo sent one of his men to kill Shawn but he fights the guy off pretty easily. Shawn then briefly leaves town to get all the records he has on Theo and shares everything with Jason when he comes back, Brenda was eventually found and Jason appreciated all Shawn had done to help bring her home. When serial killer, Franco begins menacing Carly and her daughter Josslyn, Jason hires him as their personal bodyguard. Jasper Jacks Carly's estranged husband strongly objects to Shawn guarding his daughter as he doesn't want someone with ties to the mob protecting Josslyn, he attempts to pay Shawn to quit but he doesn't go for it stating he can't be paid off.

Jax then digs into Shawn's past and finds out he had been dishonorably discharged from the military because he had killed a fellow marine. Jax then threatened to use Shawn's violent past against Carly during their custody hearing to prove Carly's an unfit mother, Carly defends Shawn but he quits not wanting to have anything to do with messing up Carly's chances at keeping her daughter. Shawn then confronts Jax telling him he quit and ordered him to leave Carly out of whatever issue Jax had with him. Jax then taunted Shawn about killing another marine and Shawn responds by punching Jax in the face.

In July 2011, after Jax lost custody of his daughter to Carly after Sonny framed him for drug possession he quickly leaves town. Shawn believing he’ll be back begins paying more attention to Carly and her daughter. In August 2011, Shawn instincts were right and Jax comes home attempting to kidnap Josslyn Shawn catches him before he's able to leave but his efforts are stalled when Jax brings up an incident in Shawn's past when he unintentionally injured a young girl the same event that caused his PTSD. Shawn started to remember the incident and he froze and Jax walked right out the door with Josslyn. Shawn recovers and he starts going around town looking for Josslyn he manages to track Josslyn and Jax down at Robin Scorpio's house, he talks to Jax and he eventually gives Josslyn to Shawn and Shawn brings her back home to Carly.

When Jax is presumed dead after his private jet crashed into the harbor he comforts Carly but a body wasn't found making her believe Jax is still alive. Shawn encouraged her to trust her instincts and gave her more hope when he found out Carly's boat was missing from the harbor. Jason later approaches Shawn with a job to take over his position in the Corinthos Organization temporarily while he is preparing to marry Sam. Carly and Shawn continue to grow closer as he becomes more involved in the business when he protects Carly’s son Michael from getting busted with illegal drugs that were planted in Sonny's warehouse. However, Michael doesn’t approve of his mother’s and Shawn’s budding relationship.

In October 2011, after receiving a package from Franco, Carly becomes worried and she and Shawn go to Hawaii to warn Jason who is on his honeymoon with new wife Sam. They stay with Sam and Jason and bond and ultimately share a kiss on October 27. In November 2011, on Veteran’s Day, Shawn opens up to Carly about his friend and fellow marine Tommy Ashford whom he accidentally killed in Afghanistan and how his father was gunned down right in front of him when he was a kid. Carly and Shawn spend Thanksgiving together at Kelly’s but Shawn realizes they are getting too personal and pulls away. When Franco makes contact again, Shawn moves in with Carly temporarily to protect her and Josslyn.

In December 2011, Shawn and Jason's accountant Bernie Abrahms attended a meeting in Jason's place but it was an ambush and Bernie is shot by an unknown assailant. Shawn handled the situation but he was overcome by his PTSD, Carly arrived soon after and was concerned over the state of shock she found Shawn in. Carly soon found out that therapy dogs can help with PTSD and for Christmas, she gets Shawn a dog to help with his PTSD, whom he names Wilson.

In January 2012, as Shawn is preparing to leave Port Charles, he is forced to take in Tommy’s trouble teenage son, T.J. Ashford who has run away from home and Shawn decides to take him in. Carly then hires Shawn to manage Kelly's Diner. Shawn convinces Alexis Davis, Molly’s mother to let Molly tutor T.J. as he needs help with his school work. Shawn is jealous of Carly's new relationship with Johnny Zacchara and T.J. calls him out on his feelings for her. Shawn later tries to convince Carly to officially divorce Jax when Jax sells his half of their hotel to Carly's rival, Kate Howard without telling her. In February 2012, Shawn and Michael find common ground when Michael decides to go to college and Shawn ends up being his tutor. At the urging of GH's new resident psychiatrist, Ewen Keenan, Shawn asks to escort Carly to the General Hospital Pulmonary benefit at the Metro Court, but she doesn't return his call. After much probing from T.J, Shawn confronts Carly and tells her he wants to be with her. When she doesn't return his feelings, Shawn backs off. In April 2012, Ranelle Rance a woman Shawn is seeing is attacked by a mystery man attacking strippers Shawn brings her to the PCPD to see Delores Padilla.

In Summer 2012, Shawn started to develop feelings for Alexis but he feared he would lose the opportunity when he finds out she was injected with a substance that caused her to get a dangerously high fever. He prayed for Alexis to be ok and when he found out she was going to be ok he asked her out on a date. Alexis agreed to go out with Shawn but it had to be delayed because Jerry Jacks returned to town and poisoned the towns water supply, and everyone except for Josslyn and Alexis were infected. This was due to Jerry injecting a substance in both Alexis and Josslyn so they won't be infected by the toxin, Jerry did this because Josslyn is his niece and Alexis is the love of his life. Jerry goes to Alexis's home and rings the doorbell Shawn answers the door and he sees Jerry and they have confrontation, Shawn puts up a valiant effort put he's to weak to put up much of a fight. Alexis sees the door open and goes outside that's where she sees Jerry and he takes her hostage. Shawn regains consciousness and realizes Jerry took Alexis and he goes off to find her, Shawn runs into Sonny and they go find Alexis. They get on a speed boat and find where Jerry took Alexis they soon find her tied up and Shawn brings her back home to safety. After the fiasco Jerry is presumed dead after the explosion on the docks and the antidote to the toxin was given out curing a lot of people and making everyone feel better. Once everything settled down Shawn and Alexis were able to start their relationship.

In late 2012, Shawn becomes Sonny's friend and associate after Jason Morgan is presumed dead after Cesar Faison masquerading as Duke Lavery shot Jason in the back and kicked him into the harbor. When Alexis overhears Shawn and Sonny talking at Kelly's, she wonders if Shawn is starting to work for Sonny, she tells Shawn she really care's about him and doesn't want anything to happen to him because of Sonny's business as she would be devastated. Shawn returns the sediments and he and Alexis end up having sex in Shawn's room and they become lovers.

In March 2013, Shawn is shown with a gun in the park with police officers Dante Falconeri and Anna Devane they tell him to drop it and he does, they ask him if he shot Nikolas Cassadine and he says no saying he was just doing surveillance work for Sonny and that he saw a guy and went after him. He convinced them he was telling the truth and as they were talking a guy is seen pointing a gun at them and Shawn pushes Anna out the way taking the bullet instead. After Anna and Dante catch the guy, Shawn is taken to the hospital by the paramedics, later on that month Alexis is seen helping take care of Shawn as he makes a full recovery.
 * -|2013-14=

In April 2013, Shawn goes to the Nurses' Ball held at Metro Court with Alexis. Tracy Quartermaine is at Kelly's where she is trying to get Shawn to enter into a pickle ralish deal while opposing party and nephew AJ Quartermaine is also at the diner. Shawn is told to take the Pickle Lila signs down by AJ due to the name being owned by ELQ with the product owned by Tracy, but he offers AJ and Michael the Kelly's kitchen for some recipe making. He also talks to TJ about TJ going to the courthouse for his rival, Rafe Kovich, Jr., court proceedings for Lucy Coe and Kevin Collins to be guardians. He enters into business with ELQ Enterprises current CEO AJ Quartermaine and AJ's son Michael in making their new version of Pickle Lila.

In June 2013, Franco is revealed to be alive and Sonny and Carly despise him so they order Shawn to kill Franco. Shawn follows Franco around town but can't seem to get a clear shot, so he goes back to Sonny's telling him he couldn't get a clear shot. Sonny then called the whole thing off as he didn't want anyone innocent to be caught in the crossfire. Carly hell bent on getting rid of Franco goes behind Sonny's back and reorders the hit after Sonny told her stay out of it. Shawn goes along with Carly's plan not knowing Sonny doesn't know anything about it, Carly sets up everything at the Metro Court on the terrace. Shawn waits for awhile to get a clean shot at Franco and when he sees it he fires but instead of hitting Franco he shoots Olivia. After the accident Shawn is horrified at the fact he shot an innocent women and that Olivia may die, Alexis then catches Shawn in a lie about his whereabouts and suspects he could have shot Olivia.

Later on that month the guilt grows for Shawn and he tells Sonny and Carly he's going to the cops and confess his involvement in the shooting. Shawn then goes to police station telling Dante he has something to tell him and before he can confess Anna pulls Dante aside telling him she has something he has to see. Carly then pulls Shawn in the interrogation room as she was already there being interrogated herself about the shooting, she tells him he doesn't have to confess but Shawn then tells her he's not going to implicate her or Sonny but he just has to get this off his chest. Dante then rushes in followed by Anna and Dante reveals that the gun that they recovered doesn't match the bullet that was shot into Olivia therefore there was another gun. Hearing this Shawn realizes he didn't shoot Olivia and doesn't confess. Shawn and Carly then go to the Metro Court terrace and Shawn finds the bullet he fired lodged in a wall proving he had nothing to do with the shooting. Carly and Shawn are relieved that their actions didn't put Olivia in the hospital and Shawn gets rid of any evidence that ties them to the shooting.

A few days later Shawn is forced to confront his relationship with Alexis when she put's the pieces together about his involvement in Sonny's business. She tells him she knows he shot Olivia but he tells her no he didn't because the bullet he shot was still in a wall at the hotel meaning the bullet that was shot into Olivia didn't come from his gun. Alexis tells Shawn it doesn't matter because he still intended on killing someone and that she doesn't want to be apart of that life. They then get into an argument about Shawn working for Sonny and then Shawn calls Alexis a hypocrite as she's Sonny's lawyer and has a child with Sonny. She then comes back saying that's completely different than killing someone at any give moment, they continue to argue until Alexis issues an ultimatum. She tells Shawn to quit working for Sonny or their relationship is over, Shawn then tells Alexis he doesn't like warning's but tells her he loves her and doesn't want to lose her. Shawn then heads to Sonny's house intent on quitting but he stops at the last minute realizing he likes working for Sonny, likes how he thinks, and the power that comes with it. He then heads back to Alexis's house and tells her he didn't quit, she asks why and Shawn says he just couldn't let it go and that it gave him something he didn't know he needed until he almost threw it away. Alexis tells Shawn she can't be with him anymore and they break up on the 4th of July.

In May 2014 Sonny asks Shawn to get Ava Jerome out of town before her brother Julian kills her for giving Sonny information about his business; later Shawn goes to the Jerome Gallery and finds Ava holding Julian at gunpoint for trying to kill her after Morgan hit Julian over the head with a wine bottle. Shawn later talks Ava down reminding her that Julian needs to be alive for Danny Morgan's sake if he ever gets sick again. Julian trying to get back at Ava reveals to Shawn that Ava was the one that shot Sonny's girlfriend Olivia last year.
 * -|2015=

Crimes Committed

 * -|2011-13=
 * Adultery; had and affair with Jordan Ashford while she was married to Thomas Ashford [1996; TJ was born in 1997; revealed 2014]
 * Has been involved in "unscrupulous" mob-related activities
 * Stole a car while intoxicated when he was 15 [pre-2011]
 * Killed fellow Marine Tommy Ashford in self-defense [pre 2011; revealed to be self-defense in 2014]
 * Dishonorably discharged from the military after killing fellow Marine Tommy Ashford [pre 2011]
 * Beat up Johnny Zacchara [Jan 26, 2011]
 * Ordered by Theo Hoffman to kidnap Brenda Barrett [Feb 2011]
 * Held a gun on Sam McCall [Feb 2011]
 * Held a gun on Carly Jacks [Feb 2011]
 * Punched Jasper Jacks in the face [Jun 3, 2011]
 * Obstruction of justice; tampered with a police investigation by creating a bomb and keeping illegal drugs hidden [Sep 29, 2011]
 * Kidnapped Connie Zacchara on orders from Sonny Corinthos [Nov 2012]
 * Held at gunpoint by police officers Dante Falconeri and Anna Devane for having a gun on him and suspicion of shooting Nikolas Cassadine. He convinced them of no wrongdoing and saved Devane and was shot in the process. It was later revealed that Stavros Cassadine ordered Nikolas to be shot. [Mar 25-26, 2013]
 * Ordered by Sonny Corinthos to shoot and kill Franco (Sonny later called off the hit but Carly goes behind his back and relaunches the hit) [Jun 2013]
 * Attempted murder; shot a bullet meant for Franco, it looked like he shot Olivia Falconeri instead (It later turned out that Ava Jerome was the one who shot Olivia) [Jun 2013]
 * Obstruction of justice; lied to the police during their investigation of Olivia Falconeri's shooting [Jun 2013]
 * Beat up Franco on Sonny's orders [Jul 2013]
 * Kidnapped and interrogated Vince, an associate of the Jerome family [Sep 13, 2013]
 * Dragged Carlos Rivera out of his apartment and took him to a cemetery against his will [Dec 2013]
 * Held Carlos at gunpoint and forced him to dig his own grave [Dec 2013]
 * Ordered by Sonny to kill Carlos at the cemetery to send a message to Julian Jerome [Dec 2013]
 * Held Carlos hostage and tied him up at one of Sonny's warehouses [Dec 2013]
 * Involved in a shootout with the Jerome mob family [Dec 2013]


 * -|2014-present=
 * Obstruction of justice; lied to Anna Devane about him and T.J not knowing anything about the shootout at Sonny's warehouse where Max Giambetti was shot [Jan 7, 2014]
 * Beat up Julian Jerome on Sonny's orders [Jan 24, 2014]
 * Roughed up and threatened Julian Jerome to stay away from T.J (Julian threatened T.J. to go to the police and reveal everything Shawn and Sonny did during the warehouse shootings) [Feb 27, 2014]
 * Obstruction of justice; helped Sonny cover up his involvement in A.J. Quartermaine's murder [Mar 2014]
 * Almost shot down a helicopter with Ava Jerome, Julian Jerome and Mickey Diamond inside (Sonny stopped him because Ava's pregnant and the baby might be his or his son Morgan's) [Jul 24, 2014]
 * Ordered his men to invade Ava Jerome's penthouse suite to drag Ava out of there and went with them to do it himself under orders from Sonny Corinthos [Sep 19, 2014]
 * Involved in a shootout with Julian and Ava's men while trying to kidnap Ava from her penthouse [Sep 22, 2014]
 * Held Jordan Ashford at gunpoint to prevent her from sabotaging his plans to kidnap Ava [Sep 23, 2014]
 * Held Kobe at gunpoint, one of Luke's henchmen in order to prevent him from killing Michael Corinthos [Sep 29-30, 2014]
 * Obstruction of justice; helped Sonny cover up the murder of Kobe one of Luke's hit men [Sep 30, 2014]
 * Broke into Julian Jerome's penthouse (along with Sonny) [Oct 2014]
 * Conspired with Sonny to kill Franco and to make it look like Heather Webber did the crime [Oct 2014]
 * Broke into the Miscavige hospital, clocked the warden across the head, and then took Heather Webber out of there [Oct 2014]
 * Broke into Franco's hotel suite, held him at gunpoint, and almost killed him under the orders of Sonny Corinthos [Oct 2014]
 * Held Carlos Rivera at gunpoint in order to prevent him from killing Ric Lansing [Dec 23, 2014]
 * Election Tampering; disposed of a ballot box that held uncounted votes from the mayoral election under the orders of Duke Lavery (along with Jordan) [revealed Jan 13, 2015]
 * Engaged in a gun battle with Julian and his men [Mar 11, 2015]
 * Tried to kidnap Julian Jerome [Apr 3, 2015]
 * Assaulted Julian [May 6, 2015]
 * Almost shot 'Jake Doe' under the orders of Sonny Corinthos [May 18, 2015]

Health and Vitals

 * Shot [pre-2011; revealed 2014]
 * Suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder [revealed Jan 24, 2011]
 * Shot in the chest during an ambush and required surgery at GH [Feb 23, 2011]
 * Has mortar fragments near his spine from a previous surgery [revealed June 2, 2011]
 * Experienced a fever after being exposed to the toxin placed in the town's water supply by Jerry Jacks [Sep 2012]
 * Knocked out by Jerry Jacks [Sep 2012]
 * Shot in the shoulder by an unnamed shooter in the park while doing surveillance work to find Lulu Spencer-Falconeri [Mar 26, 2013]
 * Held at gunpoint by Julian Jerome [May 19, 2014]
 * Slapped by Jordan Ashford [Jul 25, 2014]
 * Had gunshots fired at him by Julian and Ava's men during a shootout at their penthouse [Sep 22, 2014]
 * Held at gunpoint by Jordan so he couldn't kidnap Ava [Sep 23, 2014]
 * Locked in a room with Jordan at first, Carly Corinthos-Jacks, and Heather Webber [Oct 30-Nov 12, 2014]
 * Held at gunpoint by Heather Webber [Nov 4, 2014]
 * Had a shot fired at him by Franco for trying to steal his gun [Nov 6, 2014]
 * Engaged in a gun battle with Julian and his men [Mar 11, 2015]
 * Held at gunpoint by Jason Morgan [Apr 3, 2015]
 * Assaulted by Jason [May 18, 2015]
 * Blamed for the shooting of Hayden Barnes (it was actually the fault of a hit man hired by Nikolas Cassadine) [May 18, 2015; sent to prison]