Actor Jonathan Joss Fatally Shot in Apparent Hate Crime

Actor Jonathan Joss was shot to death at the burned-out remnants of his former home in San Antonio, Texas, by neighbor Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja in an apparent hate crime. Although Joss was of Apache and Comanche heritage, the hatred was apparently homophobia.

Police arrested Ceja, who was charged with first-degree felony murder and had bail set at $200,000.

Joss and his husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales had endured years of harassment by neighbors about their relationship. Some threatened to burn the house. The couple took this to police more than once, to no avail.

In January their house burned. One of their dogs died in the fire.

They had gone to the ruined house to retrieve a check mailed there by a victim’s assistance fund in connection with the fire. When they arrived, they found the skull and harness of the dog that died in the fire placed “in clear view.” This upset them. They yelled and cried.

A man walked toward them, shouting homophobic slurs. He raised a gun and fired. In a long social media post where Kern de Gonzales related the entire story, he said, “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.”

Joss was born and grew up in San Antonio. In the 1990s he began taking Native American roles in western movies. From there, he moved to television series where depicted modern Native people. He won Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Sparrow International Film Festival in 2022 for playing Uncle Steve in “Abduction of the Fourth Kind.”

He was best known as the voice of John Redcorn in the animated series King of the Hill seasons 2 through 13, Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation, and roles in Tulsa King and the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven.