Jonathan Joss, a voice actor best known for his work on the animated series King of the Hill, has been fatally shot near his Texas home, authorities say.
Officers arrived at the actor's home in San Antonio Texas on Sunday evening, local time, and found him wounded near the street.
"The officers attempted life-saving measures until EMS [Emergency Medical Services] arrived," San Antonio police said in a statement.
"EMS pronounced the victim deceased."
The 59-year-old's death was confirmed by his husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, who gave an account of the shooting on social media, alleging the couple had faced homophobic abuse ahead of the incident.
He said he and Joss were checking mail at Joss's home, which had been heavily damaged during a January fire that claimed the lives of their three dogs, when they found the skull of one of the dogs and became upset.
He said a man approached them and "started yelling violent homophobic slurs at us".
"He then raised a gun from his lap and fired," Mr Gonzales wrote.
Police said their investigation was ongoing and did not immediately provide any information on what prompted the shooting.
"Jonathan and I had no weapons," Mr Gonzales wrote.
"We were not threatening anyone. We were grieving.
"When the man fired Jonathan pushed me out of the way.
"He saved my life."
Authorities arrested 56-year-old Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja and charged him with murder.
In a statement provided to the ABC, the San Antonio Police Department said there was no evidence to suggest the attack was motivated by homophobia.
“Our investigation has found no evidence whatsoever to indicate that the Mr. Joss’s murder was related to his sexual orientation," it said.
"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.”
Joss, who grew up in San Antonio, was best known as the voice of John Redcorn, a Native American character on the popular King of the Hill animated series that ran for 13 seasons from 1997 to 2008.
A reboot of the show is set to start in August.
Joss also had a recurring role on the television show Parks and Recreation, playing Chief Ken Hotate. He appeared in two episodes of the series Tulsa King in 2022.
A GoFundMe page was set up in January for Joss after the house fire.
According to the page, Joss had lost all of his belongings in the fire, including his vehicle.
Before he was fatally shot, Joss had been in Austin, located about 130 kilometres north-east of San Antonio, for events related to a sneak peak of the King of the Hill revival.
On Saturday, Joss had posted a video on Instagram in which he said he was signing autographs at a comic book store in Austin.
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