HOUSTON (AP) — Investigators are trying into whether or not the sexual orientation of “King of the Hill” voice actor Jonathan Joss performed a job in his capturing dying in Texas, authorities mentioned Thursday, strolling again a earlier assertion concerning the potential motive.
Joss’ husband has claimed the one that killed the actor yelled “violent homophobic slurs” earlier than opening hearth exterior his dwelling in San Antonio on Sunday evening. A day after the capturing, San Antonio police issued an announcement saying that they had discovered “no evidence whatsoever to indicate that Mr. Joss’ murder was related to his sexual orientation.”
However throughout a information convention on Thursday, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus mentioned the assertion was “premature” and that whether or not Joss’ sexual orientation performed a job within the capturing “is part of the investigation.”
“I will own that and simply say again that we simply shouldn’t have done that. It was way too early in the process for any statement of that nature to be issued,” McManus mentioned.
The police chief mentioned many within the LGBTQ+ neighborhood “are feeling anxious and concerned” after Joss’ capturing and that “a whole lot of it has to do with that untimely assertion.”
“The loss of Jonathan Joss was tragic, most heavily felt by the LGBTQ+ community,” McManus mentioned.
Texas doesn’t have separate hate crimes costs. But when homophobia is discovered to have been a motive within the capturing, that might lead to a harsher sentence at trial below the state’s hate crimes regulation.
“We gather the facts, and we give those facts to the district attorney’s office. And then that hate crime designation is determined at sentencing,” McManus mentioned.
The actor’s dwelling burned down in January. Joss’ husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, has mentioned that they have been checking mail there Sunday when a person approached them, pulled out a gun and opened hearth.
In an announcement, de Gonzales mentioned he and Joss had beforehand confronted harassment, a lot of it “openly homophobic.”
Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, who’s a neighbor of Joss, is charged with homicide within the capturing. Ceja Alvarez has been launched on a $200,000 bond.
Ceja Alvarez’s lawyer, Alfonso Otero, didn’t instantly return an e mail searching for remark Thursday.
McManus mentioned police had been referred to as to Joss’ dwelling and his neighborhood about 70 instances over the previous two years associated to “neighborhood type disturbances.”
“Sometimes (Joss) was the caller. Other times, the neighbors were calling on him,” McManus mentioned.
The San Antonio Police Division’s psychological well being unit in addition to a unit referred to as SAFFE that works with residents to assist forestall crime “had extensive engagements with Mr. Joss, making repeated efforts to mediate conflicts and connect him with services that he may have needed,” McManus mentioned.
The January hearth at Joss’ dwelling continues to be being reviewed by arson investigators, McManus mentioned.
Joss misplaced all his belongings within the blaze and his three canines have been killed.
Actors who labored with Joss, together with buddies and followers have honored Joss’ reminiscence with tributes.
“His voice will be missed at King of the Hill, and we extend our deepest condolences to Jonathan’s friends and family,” the present’s creators and producers — Mike Decide, Greg Daniels and Saladin Patterson — mentioned in an announcement on the animated collection’ Instagram web page.
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Observe Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
