"They did not accept our relationship": Actor Jonathan Joss shot dead in alleged homophobic attack
Actor Jonathan Joss was shot dead by a neighbor at his home in San Antonio this weekend. He was 59.
The fatal shooting came after a dispute with a neighbor on Sunday night, per TMZ. Witnesses told police that Joss and the suspect, Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, were in a heated argument when Alvarez shot Joss multiple times. Joss was pronounced dead on the scene. Law enforcement detained Alvarez a block away from Joss' home. Alvarez has been charged with murder.
Joss' husband claimed that the shooting was a homophobic attack. In a post to Joss' Facebook, Tristan Kern de Gonzales said the incident was the culmination of years of hateful abuse from neighbors.
"We reported these threats to law enforcement multiple times and nothing was done," he shared. "Throughout that time, we were harassed regularly by individuals who made it clear they did not accept our relationship. Much of the harassment was openly homophobic."
De Gonzales said the shooting was unprovoked.
"Jonathan and I had no weapons. We were not threatening anyone," he wrote. "We were standing side by side. When the man fired, Jonathan pushed me out of the way. He saved my life...He was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other."
Joss is best known for his role as John Redcorn in 'King of the Hill.' He voiced the character in Seasons 2 through 13, taking over the role from actor Victor Aaron after Aaron died in a car accident in 1996. Joss had a recurring role as Chief Ken Hotate in "Parks and Recreation" and appeared in TV shows like "Tulsa King" and the films "True Grit" and "The Magnificent Seven."
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an hour ago
- Yahoo
Slurs, 911 calls and a crossbow: Records detail neighborhood disputes before Jonathan Joss' killing
Newlyweds Jonathan Joss and Tristan Kern de Gonzales held each other in their final moment together on Sunday. Joss, the 59-year-old voice actor best known as John Redcorn from 'King of the Hill,' had just been shot in the head in front of their San Antonio, Texas home. "I didn't want him to struggle and everything so I decided to tell him I loved him. And despite the severity of everything he was able to look up at me and acknowledge what I was saying so I know he heard me," Kern de Gonzales, 32, said. "I just kept telling him 'it's okay. You need to cross over. You don't need to keep struggling. You need to go ahead and cross over easy.'" Kern de Gonzales said Joss' alleged killer also had final words for the actor. He called him and his husband "jotos," a Spanish slur for gay people. "I've been called that word while I was sitting on a bench with Jonathan, eating lunch," Kern de Gonzales said. "And I got called that holding Jonathan while he died." Shortly after, police arrested one of the pair's neighbors, Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, for Joss' killing. Kern de Gonzales says he believes Ceja, 56, killed his husband because of his sexual orientation. But the San Antonio Police Department says there's "no evidence" to indicate that Joss' killing was motivated by hate. Authorities have not yet revealed a motive or additional details of their investigation into the shooting. Police records obtained by NBC News and interviews with Kern de Gonzales and the pair's neighbors paint a complicated picture of what led up to the voice actor's tragic killing. Ceja could not be reached for comment. He has not yet acquired an attorney, according to the Bexar County District Clerk's Office. Kern de Gonzalez, who lived in his husband's childhood home since March 2024, said that he and Joss were regularly at odds with their neighbors, including Ceja, in recent years. He claims that many neighbors would hurl anti-gay slurs at them and complain about them being "loud," making them feel unwanted in the neighborhood. Police were called to respond to incidents at their home more than four dozen times, according to call logs obtained by NBC News, with most of the calls labeled as "disturbances." One of the pair's neighbors, who asked that their name not be shared due to fear of retaliation, said Joss was difficult to live by. "He's been a nightmare," the neighbor said. Kern de Gonzales acknowledged that his husband had a tendency to be "loud." "Me and Jonathan would be out there late at night playing the drums, singing, being a nuisance," Kern de Gonzales said. "If you're going to make it hard for us to live here, you ain't going to get no sleep." The couple's relationship with Ceja was particularly contentious. A spokesperson for SAPD confirmed with NBC News that the police department's "SAFFE" unit, which works to prevent crimes, had been mediating a dispute between Ceja and Joss for over a year. In June 2024, Ceja told police that Joss approached his house with a crossbow and hurled racial slurs at him, according to a separate police report. Joss confirmed to police that he walked over to Ceja's house to "talk about their dogs fighting with each other," according to the report. The report adds that Joss "got very defensive and stated that he does not bother" Ceja "at all." Authorities later searched Joss' home and retrieved a crossbow from his living room, police records say. And in January, Joss accused Ceja of burning their house down, according to police records. Joss told police that on the morning of the fire, he was using a barbecue in his living room because he did not have heat or electricity, according to the report. However, he said he turned the barbecue off before leaving the house to get lunch. He told police that an unnamed individual saw Ceja on his property the day before and suggested Ceja was responsible, according to the report. "I have classified this fire to be undetermined in nature at this time but cannot rule out human involvement intentional or unintentional," the officer filling out the report wrote. The fire caused the pair to be homeless, Kern de Gonzales said. But that did not stop them from getting married. They wed on Valentine's Day in Houston. "It was a very nice, simple ceremony, you know, just me and him and it, it really suited us," he said. "We were really and really proud to be married.' Kern de Gonzales said that he and his husband returned to their property on Sunday to retrieve mail. When they arrived, he said they found the skull of a dog on their property. The pair thought the skull belonged to their dog that perished in a fire and was placed there by a neighbor as a way to taunt them. The incident prompted Joss to march up and down their street with a pitchfork and begin yelling, Kern de Gonzales said. Several minutes later, he said, Ceja allegedly pulled up to their property and shot Joss. According to a police report from the Sunday shooting, Ceja told officers, "I shot him" upon his arrest on Sunday. 'I could give two f----s less if me or my husband had 50 pitchforks in every orifice of our body rolling up and down that street like tumbleweed," he said. "It don't matter." This article was originally published on
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Here's Why People Are Raising Their Eyebrows Over Chris Pratt's Post About The Fatal Shooting Of His 'Parks And Recreation' Costar Jonathan Joss
Earlier this week, authorities confirmed that actor Jonathan Joss had died after being shot during an altercation with a former neighbor. He was 59. Jonathan's husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, claimed in a social media statement that the actor was killed in an anti-gay, targeted attack. He wrote, 'My husband Jonathan Joss and I were involved in a shooting while checking the mail at the site of our former home. That home was burned down after over two years of threats from people in the area who repeatedly told us they would set it on fire. We reported these threats to law enforcement multiple times and nothing was done.' 'Throughout that time we were harassed regularly by individuals who made it clear they did not accept our relationship. Much of the harassment was openly homophobic,' Tristan alleged. 'When we returned to the site to check our mail we discovered the skull of one of our dogs and its harness placed in clear view. This caused both of us severe emotional distress. We began yelling and crying in response to the pain of what we saw. While we were doing this a man approached us. He started yelling violent homophobic slurs at us. He then raised a gun from his lap and fired.' While tributes have poured in for the King of the Hill voice actor, his former Parks and Recreation costar Chris Pratt shared some words of his own this week. Related: I'm Absolutely Losing It Over Miley Cyrus's Theory About "Disney Gays" And "Nickelodeon Gays" That Just Destroyed My Entire Childhood Jonathan famously played Chief Ken Hotate on the fan-favorite sitcom, while Chris starred as Andy Dwyer. In an Instagram story that has since expired, Chris shared a screenshot of a news headline about Jonathan's killing and wrote, 'Damn. RIP Jonathan. Always such a kind dude. He played Ken Hotate in Parks and was also in Mag 7. Sad to see. Prayers up. Hug your loved ones.' Related: Let's Talk About How Creepy The Sydney Sweeney Bikini Pics Are Reacting to Chris's tribute, several internet users admitted that they found his wording 'really weird' and 'poorly written.' 'This is a really weird tribute in response to his death,' one person said. 'This is such a poorly written statement. I know that Pratt likely wasn't close with Jonathan, nor is he expected to be -- but no statement is honestly better than this. It sounds so callous,' someone else agreed. 'Honestly just using full sentences would have made this sound more sincere even if they weren't close. Minimal effort. Also wth does 'prayers up' even mean,' one user wrote, while another echoed, 'He couldn't even be bothered with a full sentence, how classy.' 'It's so terse and weirdly written. Like, read it aloud. It's robotic,' someone said, while another wrote, 'This is so dismissive that it feels disrespectful. He should've said nothing tbh.' One more person added, 'It might have been better to say nothing at all Chris. This death is so tragic and upsetting and Johnathan deserved a better tribute then 'damn. RIP.'' Some users took issue with the fact that Chris made no mention of the nature of Jonathan's murder, comparing his statement to a moving statement shared by actor Cynthia Nixon. 'Was devastated to learn of the killing last night of the wonderfully talented actor and musician Jonathan Joss, who my family and I enjoyed so much in Parks and Recreation. He and his husband had been repeatedly harassed and worse by homophobic neighbors who recently burned their house to the ground. The men were collecting mail at their old address when a former neighbor came at them shouting homophobic hate and shot Jonathan to death,' Cynthia wrote. 'His husband says he would also have been shot had Jonathan not pushed him out of the way. The San Antonio police force is saying there is 'no evidence' that this was a hate crime. We will not let this stand.' More on this "King Of The Hill" Voice Actor Jonathan Joss Was Killed In A Homophobic Hate Crime, Husband SaysKelby Vera · June 2, 2025 Chris Pratt Has Responded After Ellen Page Criticised Him For Supporting An "Anti LGBTQ" ChurchBen Henry · Feb. 12, 2019 Here's Why Chris Pratt Got So Much Backlash On The Internet This WeekendEhis Osifo · Oct. 21, 2020 Also in Celebrity: 14 Celebrities Who Have So Many Kids, They're Basically Running Their Own Daycare, And 11 Who Said "Hmm, Hard Pass" Also in Celebrity: 24 Strange, Gross, And Totally Surprising Facts About Red Carpet Outfits Also in Celebrity: "I Haven't Paid My Rent In 6 Months": Celebrities Are Getting Brutally Honest About What It's Really Like To Be Famous In Hollywood
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‘King of the Hill' Creators Pay Tribute to Jonathan Joss: ‘His Voice Will Be Missed'
It's been three days since Jonathan Joss was shot to death by a neighbor in San Antonio, but tributes continue to roll in for 59-year-old actor. Ahead of the 'King of the Hill' Season 14 premiere on August 4, the team behind the Hulu revival paid tribute to the late voice actor on Tuesday. 'Jonathan brought King of the Hill's 'John Redcorn' to life for over a dozen seasons, including in the upcoming revival. His voice will be missed at King of the Hill, and we extend our deepest condolences to Jonathan's friends and family,' creators Mike Judge, Greg Daniels and co-showrunner Saladin Patterson said in a joint statement. Meanwhile, Joss' 'Parks and Recreation' co-star Chris Pratt also shares a message in his honor. 'Damn. RIP Jonathan,' he wrote on Instagram on Monday. 'Always such a kind dude. He played Ken Hotate in Parks and was also in Mag 7. Sad to see. Prayers up. Hug your loved ones.' 'The cast has been texting together about it all day and we're just heartbroken,' fellow co-star Nick Offerman told People. 'Jonathan was such a sweet guy and we loved having him as our Chief Ken Hotate. A terrible tragedy.' Joss' husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales previously explained that the shooting was caused by a homophobic neighbor who had allegedly accosted the newlywed couple in the past. 'My husband Jonathan Joss and I were involved in a shooting while checking the mail at the site of our former home. That home was burned down after over two years of threats from people in the area who repeatedly told us they would set it on fire. We reported these threats to law enforcement multiple times and nothing was done,' he wrote on Facebook. 'Throughout that time we were harassed regularly by individuals who made it clear they did not accept our relationship. Much of the harassment was openly homophobic. 'When we returned to the site to check our mail we discovered the skull of one of our dogs and its harness placed in clear view. This caused both of us severe emotional distress. We began yelling and crying in response to the pain of what we saw,' Kern de Gonzales continued. 'While we were doing this a man approached us. He started yelling violent homophobic slurs at us. He then raised a gun from his lap and fired. Jonathan and I had no weapons. We were not threatening anyone. We were grieving. We were standing side by side. When the man fired Jonathan pushed me out of the way. He saved my life.' The suspected shooter was detained at the scene and has been charged with murder. However, despite Joss' family statement, the San Antonio Police have stated: 'Despite online claims of this being a hate crime, currently the investigation has found no evidence to indicate that the Mr. Joss's murder was related to his sexual orientation.' The post 'King of the Hill' Creators Pay Tribute to Jonathan Joss: 'His Voice Will Be Missed' appeared first on TheWrap.
