‘Parks and Rec,’ ‘King of the Hill’ actor was 59

Jonathan Joss, the actor best known for voicing John Redcorn on King of the Hill and starring as Chief Ken Hotate on Parks and Recreation, died in a shooting on Sunday, the San Antonio Police Department confirmed to Entertainment Weekly. He was 59. 

Officers were dispatched to a shooting in progress in a residential area of San Antonio, Texas, around 7 p.m. on Sunday, where they found Joss shot near the road, according to police. They began administering life-saving aid until emergency services arrived and later pronounced the actor dead at the scene. 

A suspect, Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, was taken into custody by police following the shooting and has subsequently been charged with murder, authorities said. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. 

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The suspect is a neighbor of Joss’, according to PEOPLE. TMZ was the first to report the news.

Joss’ death comes five months after his childhood home was destroyed in a fire that also killed three of his dogs. At the time, the actor told the San Antonio News Express that the residence did not have gas or electricity and so he and his partner had been lighting a barbecue grill inside for warmth and to make food. A GoFundMe was later set up in order to help Joss get back on his feet and begin to rebuild the home, which had been built by his father for his mother in 1957.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Joss’ husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales wrote that the couple were visiting the site of their former home to check their mail when they both began “yelling and crying” after spotting the “skull of one of our dogs and its harness placed in clear view.” 

While they were expressing their grief, Gonzales claimed a man approached them and began “yelling violent homophobic slurs” before raising a gun and shooting at the couple.

“Jonathan and I had no weapons,” he wrote. “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.” 

Gonzales alleged that people had threatened to burn their house down for “over two years” prior to its destruction and that despite reporting the threats to local law enforcement multiple times that “nothing was done.” He also alleged that they were “harassed regularly by individuals who made it clear they did not accept our relationship.” 

He also noted that he and Joss had recently gotten married on Valentine’s Day and “were in the process of looking for a trailer and planning our future” together prior to his husband’s death.  

“He was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other,” Gonzales wrote. “I was with him when he passed. I told him how much he was loved. To everyone who supported him, his fans, his friends, know that he valued you deeply. He saw you as family. My focus now is on protecting Jonathan’s legacy and honoring the life we built together.” 

He added, “Jonathan saved my life. I will carry that forward. I will protect what he built.” 

Born in 1965, Jonathan Joss Gonzales got his start as an actor appearing in several Westerns — including the 1994 rodeo biopic 8 Seconds alongside Luke Perry and Stephen Baldwin — before landing his beloved role as John Redcorn on King of the Hill in 1997. He would go on to provide the voice for the kindhearted character across the animated series’ entire 13 season run until 2010 and was also set to return in its upcoming revival, which premieres on Hulu Aug. 4.

In addition to King of the Hill, Joss also had a memorable recurring role as the leader of the Wamapoke tribe Chief Ken Hotate on the beloved NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. He previously told Entertainment Weekly that he considered his character — who famously threatened to curse Leslie Knope’s (Amy Poehler) Harvest Festival if it didn’t move locations — to be one of the best Native characters depicted on television.

“In Hollywood, you don’t have a lot of Native people writing for Native characters,” Joss said at the time. “I think the writers developed the character and trusted me enough, because I am a Native person, to step in those shoes and be able to create this three-dimensional character.… He was essentially the best Native character on television.”

Joss’ other credits include films like the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven and True Grit, as well as television shows such as Walker, Texas Ranger, Friday Night Lights, Ray Donovan, and Tulsa King.