‘I shot him’ – Suspect admitted fatal shooting of Jonathan Joss, according to report

A history of police calls has been revealed in the deadly shooting of Hollywood actor Jonathan Joss after he was gunned down by a neighbor outside his home Sunday on the South Side.

SAN ANTONIO – A history of police calls has been revealed in the deadly shooting of Hollywood actor Jonathan Joss after he was gunned down by a neighbor outside his home Sunday on the South Side. Officers have been called to the scene more than 60 times due to disturbances, welfare checks, and mental health calls.

Joss, 59, was known for voicing John Redcorn on the long-running TV show King of the Hill, and played Chief Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation.

NOTE: His official name in police records is ‘Jonathan Joss Gonzales’ but he went by ‘Jonathan Joss’ in his professional career.

We’ve been working to find out more about his life here in San Antonio along Dorsey Street. We obtained several police reports that paint a picture of some very erratic and dangerous behavior. These reports show that police were heavily involved on this street and with Joss.

People reported seeing Joss point a crossbow on several occasions, including at Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, who is accused of killing him.

On Sunday, Joss was shot in front of his mailbox as he visited the property. Police arrested his neighbor, 56-year-old Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez. Investigators reported that the incident unfolded during a feud.

Around 7 p.m. on Sunday, police were dispatched to the property near the corner of Dorsey Drive and Morsund Blvd on the far South Side.

According to SAPD, when officers arrived at the scene, they found Joss with a gunshot wound, and immediately began providing medical care.

Officers began separating witnesses, ensuring the witnesses were with officers and inside SAPD patrol vehicles.

According to the arrest report, Alvarez was arrested without incident, reportedly telling officers, “I shot him,” before his weapons were seized and his Miranda Warning was read.

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EMS arrived at the scene and declared Joss deceased just 20 minutes after the first calls came in.

But this shooting was not the first incident along Dorsey Drive.

Neighbors described a longstanding feud between Joss and Alvarez.

“They would back and forth say things to each other,” said a neighbor.

Joss and his husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, have said they faced repeated threats due to their sexual orientation. However, neighbors reported that threats were exchanged both ways.

“[Alvarez] would say that he’d been threatened by [Joss] and that he’d show him a gun every once in a while, he would throw things over his fence,” a neighbor said.

Joss was reportedly at the site of his former home to collect mail when the incident occurred.

Home burned down in January

There’s still a little bit of the home’s foundation on Dorsey, plus debris. The home that previously stood there caught fire and was later demolished.

Kern de Gonzales suggested in a post that the fire was related to threats based on their sexual orientation.

“That home was burned down after over two years of threats from people in the area who repeatedly told us they would set it on fire,” Kern de Gonzales wrote.

In January, Kern de Gonzales told reporters that the city had shut off power to their house.

“It’s been so cold lately that my partner and I have been doing a fire inside to stay warm,” he said.

The city confirmed power and gas were cut in October 2024.

The San Antonio Fire Department opened an investigation into the fire, but the case has since been closed.

Other reports in the area

We’ve obtained several other reports detailing the escalating feud.

Just before 11 p.m. on May 24 of 2024, police were called to the address after reports from a neighbor indicated repeated gunfire and music coming from the back of the home.

Neighbors told police that someone in the property had been drinking and sporadically firing a gun throughout the night, according to the incident report. Police were unable to find any injured parties on the property.

On July 9, 2024, an administrative warrant was issued for Joss after neighbors reported that he had a crossbow and had allegedly been pointing it at people.

Officers then allegedly entered the residence and confiscated the crossbow. According to the incident report, Joss had been causing disturbances with a firearm in the past, and had his firearms confiscated as a result.

Alvarez has posted a $200,000 bond and is set to be released under strict conditions. He will be under full house arrest, subject to drug and alcohol testing, and prohibited from possessing any firearms. A court hearing for Alvarez is scheduled for August 19.

Tristan Kern de Gonzales, Joss’ husband, described the shooting as a hate crime. He stated that the couple had been repeatedly harassed because they were gay and that their home was burned down following years of threats from neighbors.

“We reported these threats to law enforcement multiple times and nothing was done,” said de Gonzales in a social media post.

San Antonio Police officials deny that claim and said on its social media site, “they found no evidence that Joss’ murder was related to his sexual orientation. ”

A neighbor of Joss’ mentioned that the actor had an ongoing feud with several people in the neighborhood, and said moments before Joss was shot, she saw him outside visibly upset.

“We passed by him, and we saw him. He was a little loud. I don’t know who he was talking to in the vehicle, but he was waving his hands.”

Kern de Gonzales said, “The two of them had been repeatedly harassed because they were gay and their home was burned down after years of threats from neighbors.”

Joss’ neighbor said she didn’t think anything of him being irate, because he had been acting erratically over the past several months.

“He was a little quirky. Mr. Redcorn did some things out of the ordinary that many people may see as not being normal. If we were driving by his home, he would come out into the street and literally try to stop you. He would yell. I don’t know if he felt in his mind that, that area was his and no one had the right to go through it.”

Additionally, a man who saw Joss at the ATX TV Festival in Austin just this past Friday recalled that the actor said something that took everyone at the festival by surprise.

“Yo, my house was burned down. I’m from San Antonio. My house burned down because I’m gay,” the man recalled Joss saying.

City records also indicate the neighborhood disputes were only part of the story, with city officials saying that the home Joss and his husband had lived in was slated for demolition well before the fire in January of 2025. Records from the City of San Antonio’s Dangerous Assessment Response Team (DART) indicated that neither Joss nor his husband owned the property.

According to city officials, after several reports of theft and mental health concerns, the DART Team got involved. After inspecting the property, the building was brought before the Building Standards Board, which ordered its demolition. DART then gave the couple a notice to vacate. The homeowner consented to the demolition of the home, and services were disconnected from the property in October of 2024.

Officials say the home then sat on a list of homes to be demolished, before a fire on January 23, 2025, destroyed most of the structure, killing at least one dog in the blaze.

The home was then finally demolished on January 30, as an emergency demolition.

The Pride Center is holding a vigil for Jonathan Joss on Sunday, June 8, 2025, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Crocket Crocket Park.