Just days after King of the Hill actor Jonathan Joss was fatally shot, his husband has come forward with a chilling account of what led to the tragic moment.
In a heartbreaking and emotional Facebook post, Tristan Kern de Gonzales revealed that he was there when his husband was gunned down – and claims the murder stemmed from years of open harassment and violent homophobia in their San Antonio neighborhood.
The shooting happened on June 1, but according to Gonzales, it was the horrifying culmination of a campaign of hate that had gone on for years. The couple had previously lived at the site where the incident occurred – but their home had already burned down after repeated threats. “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,” Gonzales wrote, stating that they reported the threats to police “multiple times” but were ignored.
He described how their life together had been plagued by harassment, with certain neighbors making it clear they couldn’t accept the couple’s relationship. “Much of the harassment was openly homophobic,” he added. Despite the danger, they revisited the site of their old home on June 1 to check their mail. That’s when the unimaginable happened.
According to Gonzales, they found the remains of one of their dogs left out for them to see, a deeply disturbing act they believe was intentional. “We began yelling and crying in response to the pain of what we saw,” he said. That’s when a man approached them, hurling violent homophobic slurs.
“He then raised a gun from his lap and fired,” Gonzales wrote. “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.”
Emergency services were called around 7 p.m. that evening and found Joss lying near the road. Despite paramedics attempting to revive him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police quickly identified and detained the alleged shooter, 56-year-old Sigfredo Alvarez Cejam, who fled the scene in a vehicle. He has been charged with murder, and the investigation is ongoing. Authorities later confirmed that Cejam is a neighbor of Joss, adding weight to Gonzales’ claim that this was not a random act but one driven by deep-rooted hate.
Joss, 59, was widely recognized for voicing John Redcorn in King of the Hill and had just made headlines two days before the shooting for speaking up at the ATX TV Festival. During a panel about the upcoming King of the Hill reboot, Joss – who was sitting in the audience – stood up and delivered a passionate statement: “I’m an actor. I see a mic; I use it. I see a wrong, I make it right. I take a breath. I want to breathe.” He went on to say, “My house burned down three months ago because I’m gay.”
The moment stunned the panel, and a showrunner confirmed that Joss was set to return for the revival. That now becomes an opportunity lost – a comeback never to be.
In his post, Gonzales shared more about their bond, saying they had just married on Valentine’s Day and were in the early days of planning a life together. “Jonathan gave me more love in our time together than most people ever get,” he wrote. “He was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other.”
Gonzales ended his statement with a vow to protect the legacy Joss left behind. “I was with him when he passed. I told him how much he was loved. To everyone who supported him, his fans and his friends, know that he valued you deeply. He saw you as family. Jonathan saved my life. I will carry that forward. I will protect what he built.”
The world is still reeling from this brutal and senseless killing, and now attention is turning toward the history of ignored warnings and missed opportunities to prevent it. As fans mourn the loss of a beloved voice actor, there’s also growing outrage over how a man was allegedly targeted, threatened, ignored – and finally killed – all for living and loving openly.
