'King of the Hill' Star Jonathan Joss Should Still Be Here

"King of the Hill" actor Jonathan Joss was killed by a neighbor on Sunday night in an altercation outside his San Antonio home. His husband posted on Facebook that it was a hate crime.

The 59-year-old actor voiced the character John Redcorn on the show. He also appeared in "Parks and Recreation," "Ray Donovan," and "Tulsa King."

"The neighbor, who was identified by investigators as Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, 56, was taken into custody shortly after the altercation and charged with murder, the San Antonio Police Department said on Monday," reports the New York Times.

"The police did not say what had led to the dispute, which happened around 7 p.m. on the south side of San Antonio. But in a post on Mr. Joss's Facebook page on Monday, his husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, described the shooting as a hate crime and said that the two of them had been repeatedly harassed because they were gay. He wrote that they had returned to a property where Mr. Joss's home had burned down earlier this year when the shooting occurred."

"[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.

The Wrap writes "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."

de Gonzales added that the couple was "harassed regularly by individuals who made it clear they did not accept our relationship" from people who were "openly homophobic." He added that he and Joss were still newlyweds who were looking for a trailer and "planning our future."

The Times reports that "Mr. Kern de Gonzales said that he and Mr. Joss had reported the harassment several times in the past to the authorities, but that it had continued.

"A police spokesman disputed Mr. Kern de Gonzales's account about what had motivated the attack."

"Our investigation has found no evidence whatsoever to indicate that the Mr. Joss's murder was related to his sexual orientation," the spokesman said in a statement. "We take such allegations very seriously and have thoroughly reviewed all available information. Should any new evidence come to light, we will charge the suspect accordingly."

Mr. Joss, who was of Apache and Comanche descent, often played Native American roles during his roughly three-decade acting career, writes the Times.

He appeared in 34 episodes of "King of the Hill" from 1997 to 2009, according to IMDb, the entertainment database. On the show he played John Redcorn, a Native American masseur and New Age healer who carries on a lengthy affair with Nancy Hicks-Gribble that leads to a baby.

He also appeared on the NBC sitcom "Parks and Recreation" as a Native American chief, Ken Hotate, from 2011 - 2015. He also played smaller parts in the film "True Grit" and television shows "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Friday Night Lights."

The Times notes that in January of this year, "Mr. Joss lost his home of decades in San Antonio and a dog in a fire, the television station KSAT reported. At the time, he told the station that his home did not have electricity or gas because it had been vandalized and that he may have left something on that caused the fire. He said that he did not have a job."

A fan in San Antonio created a GoFundMe page to raise money for Mr. Joss after the fire, which started to receive new donations after Mr. Joss's death.