SAN ANTONIO – The partner of Jonathan Joss recounted Sunday’s fatal shooting on the South Side, saying the actor saved his life while losing his own.
Joss, who voiced John Redcorn in “King Of The Hill” and had a recurring role in “Parks and Recreation,” was shot just after 7 p.m. Sunday in the 200 block of Dorsey Drive near Pleasanton Road.
In a post to Facebook on Monday shared thousands of times, Tristan Kern de Gonzales said he and Joss, 59, were checking mail at the site of their former home on Sunday before the shooting occurred.
>> ‘There is a hole in my heart’: Actor Jonathan Joss mourned following fatal shooting
When the couple arrived at the property on Sunday, Kern de Gonzales said they found the skull of one of their dogs and its harness, causing him and Joss to yell and cry out in “severe emotional distress.”
A man then approached the two and “started yelling violent homophobic slurs” before raising a gun from his lap and firing, he wrote.
In the post, Kern de Gonzales said he was with Joss when he died and “told him how much he was loved.”
Kern de Gonzales said the two were unarmed and had previously been “harassed regularly by individuals who made it clear they did not accept our relationship.”
“Much of the harassment was openly homophobic,” he wrote on Facebook.
Officers arrested Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, 56, in connection to the shooting. Neighbors told KSAT that Joss and Alvarez had an ongoing dispute.
Joss had previously lost the property — his childhood home — in a fire on Jan. 23. His three dogs were also killed in the fire.
According to Kern de Gonzales, the home “burned down after over two years of threats from people in the area who repeatedly told us they would set it on fire.”
Joss told KSAT at the scene of the fire in January that the home had been vandalized and he lost electricity. He said at the time he was using a propane heater in the home and that he wasn’t sure if he left it on or if someone “came in and did something.”
Joss also told KSAT at the time that a neighbor had pulled an AK-47 on him.
Joss’s partner on Monday said nothing was done by law enforcement despite their reports of being threatened.
In a statement, San Antonio police said there is no evidence that the shooting was motivated by Joss’s sexual orientation.
“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,” police said.
The investigation remains ongoing.
‘Honoring the life we built’
Kern de Gonzales said Joss pushed him out of the way during the shooting.
“He saved my life,” Kern de Gonzales said.
The two were newlyweds, and married on Valentine’s Day, according to Kern de Gonzales, and they were in the process of looking for a home and planning their future.
In another post, Kern de Gonzales said he has no current plans for a “celebration of life” and donations are not needed.
“To everyone who supported him, his fans, his friends, know that he valued you deeply. He saw you as family,” Kern de Gonzales said. “My focus now is on protecting Jonathan’s legacy and honoring the life we built together.”
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