“King of the Hill” voice actor Jonathan Joss was shot and killed in what his husband alleges to have been a homophobic hate crime.
On Monday, authorities confirmed that Joss, 59, had died after a Sunday night time altercation with a former neighbor.
Afterwards, Joss’ husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, shared his account of the incident in a social media assertion the place he claimed the couple was recurrently the goal of homophobic harassment and threats whereas residing within the San Antonio, Texas, neighborhood.
Gonzales and Joss had moved out of the realm after their dwelling burned down in January however returned to the positioning to retrieve items of mail. Upon encountering the cranium of a canine they misplaced within the fireplace, Gonzales mentioned each males “began yelling and crying in response to the pain of what we saw.”
It was at that time, they had been approached by a person “yelling violent homophobic slurs” who “then raised a gun from his lap and fired,” Gonzales claimed.
“Jonathan and I had no weapons. We were not threatening anyone,” he wrote. “We were grieving. We were standing side by side. When the man fired Jonathan pushed me out of the way. He saved my life.”
Derek Storm/Everett Assortment
“He was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other,” Gonzales mentioned in his assertion, which went on to thank Joss’ mates and followers.
“Jonathan saved my life. I will carry that forward,” the assertion concluded. “I will protect what he built.”
San Antonio police initially instructed Individuals journal they found Joss with a number of gunshot wounds after they had been dispatched to a capturing in progress round 7 p.m. on Sunday night time.
Although they tried life-saving measures whereas ready for medics to reach, he was later pronounced useless on the scene.
The suspected shooter, neighbor Sigfredo Alvarez Cejam, fled, however was detained by officers a block away from the crime scene. Cejam has been booked on homicide fees, and an investigation remains to be ongoing.
Sources who spoke to TMZ instructed the outlet that Joss and Cejam had a historical past of stepping into “verbal and physical” altercations with each other.
Joss was the voice of the stoic however delicate “King of the Hill” common John Redcorn from Season 2 by way of Season 13 of the animated traditional, which aired its collection finale in 2009.
He had reportedly already recorded strains for the present’s highly-anticipated revival and appeared alongside castmates at Austin’s ATX TV Competition final week to advertise the reboot.
Joss’ different credit embrace a recurring function as Chief Ken Hotate on “Parks and Recreation,” in addition to appearances in “Tulsa King,” “Ray Donovan,” “True Grit” and “The Magnificent Seven.”
Throughout his lifetime, the Comanche and White Mountain Apache actor had pushed for the trade to cease utilizing dated stereotypes whereas depicting Native Individuals.
At Indigenous Comedian Con 2017, he instructed aspiring actors that whereas Hollywood appeared scared to write down Native American characters “in a modern day scenarios,” it’s nonetheless price it to take “a stance.”
