Police have backtracked on a previous statement about Jonathan Joss’ death as they state they were ‘premature’ in dismissing claims his murder was because of his sexual orientation.
On Sunday night, Joss, 59, was shot and killed in San Antonio, Texas, with Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, 56, since charged with murder.
Since Joss’ death, his husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, shared a lengthy statement on Facebook, claiming the actor had been killed in a homophobic attack.
A previous statement from a San Antonio PD spokesman claimed they did not believe Joss’ death was related to homophobia
‘Despite online claims of this being a hate crime, currently the investigation has found no evidence to indicate that Mr. Joss’s murder was related to his sexual orientation.’
‘We take such allegations very seriously and have thoroughly reviewed all available information,’ it said.
‘Should any new evidence come to light, we will charge the suspect accordingly.’
In a press conference on Thursday, San Antonio’s Police Department Chief William McManus retracted the statement, commenting that it had been released ‘way too prematurely.’
‘We shouldn’t have done that, it was way too early to make a statement of that nature, we didn’t have information to make that statement,’ he said.
‘We understand the LGBTQ+ community is feeling anxious and concerned, a lot of it has to do with that statement, we’re sorry.
‘The loss of Jonathan Joss was tragic and felt by the LGBTQ+ community, there’s also a concern around the circumstances surrounding that death and the history leading up to that.’
The late actor was best known for playing Chief Ken Hotate in the Parks and Recreation comedy series and for voicing John Redcorn on the animated sitcom King of the Hill, which ran for 13 seasons between 1997 and 2009.
Tristan Kern de Gonzales shared a lengthy statement on Facebook, revealing he held his husband’s face together after he was shot, claiming his accused killer ‘cackled’ as the actor lay dying.
‘While I’m holding him, he has the gun pointed over me, and he’s laughing, saying, “Oh, you love him? Joto”,’ he told The Independent, explaining the word is a Spanish slur against homosexuals.
‘Everything was really close range. It was in the head. I held his face together while I told him how much I loved him.
‘He could still hear me, he looked up at me and he wasn’t able to talk because of the extent [of his injuries], but I could tell he was trying to say, “I love you”,’ he added.
Joss died at the scene, with an incident report from the San Antonio Police Department stating that Ceja immediately confessed to the murder, telling officers: ‘I shot him.’
The fatal incident was the culmination of years of feuding between the couple and the suspect, coming to a head when Joss and Gonzales came home to find the skull of their dog – who had died in a house fire earlier in the year – displayed on their mailbox.
Joss began screaming at Ceja, who then allegedly began shouting ‘violent homophobic slurs’ before opening fire.
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