San Antonio police have retracted their statement claiming there was no evidence indicating that the fatal shooting of Jonathan Joss was a hate crime, saying their initial declaration was “premature.”
Joss, best known for voicing John Redcorn on animated comedy King of the Hill, was shot dead outside his home in San Antonio on Sunday. His neighbour, 56-year-old Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, has since been arrested on a murder charge.
The cause of death was “injuries sustained after multiple gun shots,” police confirmed.
In a statement the following day, San Antonio police said that “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.”
The statement caused widespread anger and upset, particularly with Joss’ widower, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, who said he believes his husband’s killing was because of his sexual orientation.
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“Jonathan Joss is my husband,” Kern de Gonzales said in a TikTok post. “I don’t say ‘was’ because he will always be my husband. He will always be the love of my life.
“I’m gonna keep talking about not only what happened on the day of my husband’s death, but also, we’re gonna share just everything about Jonathan and everything that he stood for. We’re gonna laugh together. We’re gonna cry together. We’re gonna be angry together.
“We won’t stop talking about this. I’m not going to let the SAPD or anyone else silence the fact that this was a hate crime, and I just won’t be silenced.
“I may not be as loud as my husband, but I carry his strength with me. I won’t stop fighting for what I know is right and for my love.”
On Thursday, Police Chief William P. McManus retracted the force’s initial comments.
“Shouldn’t have done it. [It] was way too soon before we had real information, and I will own that,” McManus said in reference to making the statement. “It was way too early in the process for any statement of that nature to be issued.
“We understand that many in the LGBTQ+ community are feeling anxious and concerned. A lot of it has to do with that premature statement that we released, and again, I own that. Shouldn’t have done it.”
In Texas, hate crimes are not charged as a separate offence, but rather as an enhancement to the penalties for the underlying crime, McManus explained.
“We gather the facts and we give those facts to the district attorney’s office, and that hate crime designation is determined at sentencing, but we don’t charge hate crime.”
According to police records obtained by NBC, Joss and Kern de Gonzalez had encountered issues with their neighbours before the fatal shooting.
According to the outlet, Kern de Gonzalez says he and his husband were bombarded with homophobic slurs from their neighbours, often resulting in calls to the police made both by Joss and others in his neighbourhood.
McManus said on Thursday that in the past two years, his department had received 70 calls involving neighbourhood spats.
The police chief said the mental health unit had “extensive engagements with Mr. Joss, making repeated efforts to remediate conflicts and connect him with services he may have needed.”
The investigation into Joss’ death is ongoing.
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