Actor Jonathan Joss, who voiced John Redcorn on the animated series “King of the Hill,” was killed Sunday night in San Antonio following a deadly altercation with a neighbor.
Jonathan Joss dead at 59
Initial reports suggest the incident stemmed from an argument between Joss and a neighbor, which escalated until the alleged shooter drew a firearm and opened fire.
After the shooting, the suspect reportedly fled in a vehicle but was soon apprehended by police just a block away.
Authorities identified the suspected gunman as 56-year-old Sigfredo Alvarez Cejam. He has been charged with murder and is currently in custody as the investigation continues.
Paramedics attempted to save Joss’s life upon arrival but were unable to revive him. The 59-year-old actor succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds at the scene.
The tragic shooting occurred two days after Joss appeared at the 2025 ATX TV Festival in Austin alongside fellow “King of the Hill” cast members.
The revival of “King of the Hill” is scheduled to premiere on Hulu in August and had already begun production.
Beyond his iconic animated role, Joss made appearances in numerous television series and films, including Sylvester Stallone’s “Tulsa King,” “Ray Donovan,” “True Grit,” and “The Magnificent Seven.”
Husband of Jonathan Joss alleges killing was hate-fueled
Following the incident, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, who said he was Joss’s husband, claimed the killing was driven by hatred.
He released a statement on Joss’s Facebook page, detailing a series of previous threats and incidents.
“My husband Jonathan Joss and I were involved in a shooting while checking the mail at the site of our former home,” Kern de Gonzales wrote.
“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.”
He alleged that the couple had reported these threats to law enforcement on multiple occasions but saw no action taken.
He described the area’s residents as “openly homophobic” and said the two were harassed due to their relationship.
Kern de Gonzales noted that when he and Joss returned to their former property to retrieve mail, they 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,” he wrote.
“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.”
In the same post, Kern de Gonzales recounted the moments before the shooting, saying Joss acted heroically.
“Jonathan and I had no weapons,” he continued. “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.”
“My husband was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other,” he added.
“I was with him when he passed. I told him how much he was loved. To everyone who supported him, his fans, his friends, know that he valued you deeply. He saw you as family. My focus now is on protecting Jonathan’s legacy and honoring the life we built together.”
Police deny murder was due to homophobia
However, the San Antonio Police Department issued a statement contradicting the claims made by Kern de Gonzales.
Officials wrote on X that “Currently the investigation has found no evidence to indicate that Mr. Joss’s murder was related to his sexual orientation.”
In the months leading up to the fatal shooting, police had reportedly been called to Joss’s residence more than 40 times since January 2024.
Those calls included reports of mental health crises, disputes with neighbors, and requests for welfare checks.
Some local residents described Joss as unpredictable. One neighbor, Isabel Caballero, told TMZ, “He would just walk up and down the street … he would just, like, scream. We knew how he was, so we wouldn’t disturb him. Even if he looked at us, talked mess to us, we just ignored him.”
Another neighbor, who chose to remain anonymous, told My San Antonio, “We all knew it was going to end up like this because of his antics.”
Other neighbors reportedly claimed that the house fire mentioned by Kern de Gonzales was caused by Joss himself while attempting to warm the home using a BBQ pit.
Additional accounts surfaced that Joss was removed by security from the ATX TV Festival in Austin for disruptive conduct during a panel focused on “King of the Hill.” He allegedly caused a scene over not being included in the event lineup.
