‘He was trying to say ‘I love you”: Jonathan Joss’s husband recalls actor’s final moments

The widowed husband of Jonathan Joss has shared some of the harrowing moments after the actor was shot, as well as repeating his claim that the shooting was motivated by homophobia.

Joss, who voiced John Redcorn in King of the Hill and played Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation, died on Sunday (1 June), after being shot outside his former home in San Antonio, Texas. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, thought to be a neighbour, has been charged with murder.

Posting about the incident on Facebook on Tuesday (3 June), Joss’s husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, claimed the pair had been harassed numerous times in the past, including with homophobic comments.

De Gonzales, who married Joss on Valentine’s Day this year, said they’d returned to their former home to collect mail and found the “skull of one of our dogs and its harness placed in clear view” which caused them both “severe emotional distress.” As the pair cried, a man approached and fired at Joss, de Gonzales added.

San Antonio police have said there is “no evidence” that the shooting was motivated by homophobia.

Speaking to The Independent, de Gonzales shared some grim details of what happened. (Trigger warning: some of the following content might cause distress)

“Everything was really close range. It was in the head,” de Gonzales said. “I held his face together while I told him how much I loved him. He could still hear me, he looked up at me [but] wasn’t able to talk because of the extent [of his injuries]. I could tell he was trying to say: ‘I love you’.”

As de Gonzales held his dying husband, Ceja is alleged to have laughed and said: “‘Oh, you love him? Joto,” (a slang derogatory term for “homosexual” in Spanish).

De Gonzales has accused the local police of ignoring the couple’s reports of harassment for two years and refuted the idea that the shooting wasn’t a hate crime.

A number of reports point to there being a feud between the married couple and Ceja, although one neighbour said Joss would also “argue with different people” over things including dogs and rubbish. Another said the actor could go from “yelling, ranting and raving” to being “really sweet”.

Joss was described by others neighbours as “erratic” and prone to walking up and down the street screaming “very loud.” Some reportedly called the police but nothing happened.

My San Antonio reported that the police department had responded to more than 40 reports regarding Joss and his behaviour since January 2024.

In his interview with The Independent, de Gonzales didn’t deny the claims but said “we didn’t point any weapons at anybody.” He also said it was “really sad how people treat other people when they’re having a mental-health crisis or going through trauma.”

Joss was also subjected to racist abuse over the years because of his Native American heritage, he added.

However, despite any abuse the pair faced, they “always found something at the end of the day to laugh about”.

Tributes flooded after news of the shooting broke, with Nick Offerman, who also appeared in Parks and Recreation, telling People: “The cast has been texting about it all day and we’re just heart-broken. Jonathan was such a sweet guy and we loved having him as our chief Ken Hotate. A terrible tragedy.”

PinkNews has contacted the San Antonio police for comment.