The husband of Jonathan Joss, the “King of the Hill” actor fatally shot by a neighbor in San Antonio, thanked Joss for saving his life in the Sunday altercation. He explained that the actor, whom he had just married on Valentine’s Day, pushed him out of the line of fire at the site of their former home, which had burned down following repeated threats.
“[The neighbor] started yelling violent homophobic slurs at us. He then raised a gun from his lap and fired. 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,” Tristan Kern de Gonzales wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.
Joss’ neighbor, identified as Sigfredo Alvarez-Cega, was arrested a block away. Alvarez-Cega, who reportedly got into a heated argument with Joss before killing him, has been charged with murder.
De Gonzales explained that before the neighbor with the gun appeared, they were horrified to discover “the skull of one of our dogs and its harness placed in clear view. This caused both of us severe emotional distress. We began yelling and crying in response to the pain of what we saw,” he said.
“He was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other. I was with him when he passed. I told him how much he was loved,” de Gonzales wrote.
He also explained that during the two years he and Joss had lived at the site, that “people in the area … repeatedly told us they would set it on fire. We reported these threats to law enforcement multiple times and nothing was done.”
He added that they were “harassed regularly by individuals who made it clear they did not accept our relationship” from people who were “openly homophobic.” De Gonzales said that he and Joss were still newlyweds who were looking for a trailer and “planning our future.”
He thanked Joss’ friends and fans, concluding his post with, “My focus now is on protecting Jonathan’s legacy and honoring the life we built together … Jonathan saved my life. I will carry that forward. I will protect what he built.”
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