SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus made his first public statements since Sunday’s deadly shooting of actor Jonathan Joss.
The chief began Thursday’s news conference by admitting his department had sent out a “way way way premature” statement on Monday regarding Joss’ murder investigation.
In that Monday statement, San Antonio police said there was no evidence that the fatal shooting was motivated by Joss’ sexual orientation.
“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,” police said on Monday.
Joss’ husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, went on Facebook on Monday and described how he and Joss were approached by a man “yelling violent homophobic slurs” at Joss before firing a weapon.
“Shouldn’t have done it,” McManus told reporters on Thursday morning. “It was way too soon before we had any real information. 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 also addressed the impact SAPD’s Monday statement had on the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
“We understand that many in the LGBTQ+ community are feeling anxious and concerned. A lot of it has to do with that premature (Monday) statement that we released, and again, I own that. Shouldn’t have done it,” McManus said Thursday. “The loss of Jonathan Joss was tragic and most heavily felt by the LGBTQ community.”
The chief discussed the circumstances surrounding Joss’ murder, including the more than 60 calls made to Joss’ South Side residence, which KSAT previously reported on Tuesday.
“One of the most common questions that we’ve received is why this case isn’t being charged as a hate crime at this point. ‘Why didn’t SAPD charge him with a murder and a hate crime?’” McManus said Thursday.
In Texas, according to McManus, hate crimes are “not separate charges.” Instead, a hate crime determination would be made by a county’s district attorney’s office, in this case, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
“We (SAPD) don’t charge with (sic) hate crimes,” McManus said Thursday. “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.”
In a separate Thursday afternoon news conference announcing his decision to not seek reelection, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said that identifying Joss’ case as a hate crime was still “too premature.”
Gonzales said that because Alvarez already faces the maximum punishment, he feels there would be no advantage in advancing the case to a hate crime.
While McManus spoke on Thursday, Kern de Gonzales reaffirmed that his husband’s death was a “hate crime” on Facebook. He also claimed Joss spent “years begging for help” and police “ignored him.”
“If you really care about Jonathan or the long history of LGBTQIA+ and Indigenous people who have been ignored and harmed by the system, don’t believe this farce,” Kern de Gonzales wrote. “And let’s be clear: I know that the people outside of uniform, who truly loved and respected Jonathan, will deal with whoever did this. One way or another justice will prevail.”
McManus also said it is “working closely” with San Antonio Fire Department arson investigators to see if there is a connection between Joss’ Sunday night murder and his house burning down on Jan. 23.
“That part of the investigation is still active,” McManus said. “We’ll share more once we have additional information that we can verify.”
Joss had “extensive engagements” with SAPD’s SAFFE (San Antonio Fear Free Environment) and mental health units to “connect him with services that he may have needed,” according to the chief.
“We need to be cautious about not releasing too much information that could negatively affect the upcoming legal process,” McManus said.
Joss, 59, was best known for his acting work as the voice of John Redcorn on the long-running animated series “King of the Hill” and Chief Ken Hotate on the live-action sitcom “Parks and Recreation.”
Joss was shot just after 7 p.m. Sunday in the 200 block of Dorsey Drive, which is located near Pleasanton Road. Police said Joss’ neighbor, Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, pulled the trigger.
According to an SAPD report, Alvarez, 56, told officers, “I shot him,” shortly after they took him into custody. Alvarez was charged with murder and later booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.
After posting a $200,000 bond on Tuesday, Alvarez was released from custody on Wednesday afternoon.
McManus’ news conference came hours before SAPD and Pride San Antonio host a joint community forum at Woodlawn Pointe, located at 702 Donaldson Ave., at 6 p.m. Thursday.
McManus said the murder investigation remains ongoing.
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