Detectives investigating “King of the Hill” actor Jonathan Joss’ murder walked back their dismissal of homophobic hate crime claims — admitting it was “way premature” to rule the possibility out.
“We issued a statement the day after Jonathan Joss’s murder that was way, way, way premature,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told reporters Thursday. “We shouldn’t have done it.”
Joss’ husband took to social media a day after his Sunday murder to claim the shooting was carried out by a bigoted neighbor who’d been harassing them over their sexuality for years — and that the gunman was spewing homophobic slurs as he pulled the trigger.
The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) quickly rebuked those allegations, however, writing within hours on X that investigators had found “no evidence to indicate that Mr. Joss’s murder was related to his sexual orientation” — but now seems to be changing its tune.
“It was way too soon before we had any real information, and I will own that,” McManus said.
The chief didn’t comment on whether investigators were now looking into homophobia as a motivator for the suspect arrested at the scene — Joss’ 56-year-old next-door neighbor Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez — instead explaining that in Texas, hate crimes are not separate charges, but rather enhancements at sentencing time.
“They are addressed through sentencing enhancements. So, for example, if someone’s arrested for a class B misdemeanor and a hate crime designation attaches to that charge, then that Class B misdemeanor is elevated to a class A misdemeanor,” McManus said, according to KENS 5.
Joss — a 59-year-old who played “John Redcorn” on “King of the Hill” — was gunned down in his driveway Sunday evening after he stopped by his property to pick up his mail, but got into a heated argument with someone and wound up dead on the ground.
His husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, claimed they’d found the remains of a beloved pet dog they’d recently lost in a property fire displayed out front, and that they became distraught at the sight.
A neighbor whom Joss had been butting heads with for years then came over and started arguing with them, Gonzales claimed, then pulled out a rifle and killed the actor.
After police initially refuted Gonzales’ claims, numerous residents on the street revealed Joss hadn’t been the best neighbor and recounted stories of him stalking up and down the block while screaming and wielding weapons.
But they also corroborated claims about a years-long feud between Joss and Alvarez, with some describing hearing gunshots ringing from both men’s properties at odd hours of the night.
That conflict and others with Joss resulted in more than 70 police calls to his property over the past two years, Chief McManus revealed Thursday.
“Sometimes he was the caller. Other times the neighbors were calling on him. Our safe unit, our mental health unit had extensive engagements with Mr. Joss, making repeated efforts to mediate conflicts,” the chief said.
