Lawmaker wants more answers in gay sailor's death Jackson Lee wants deeper look into sailor death

Family says he was harassed because he was gay

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee called Sunday for an investigation into the death of a Houston sailor who was shot to death while on duty in California last month.

Navy Seaman August Provost III, 29, was killed June 30 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Southern California, where he was standing watch at a base compound. Navy officials said Provost, who grew up in Houston's Acres Homes neighborhood, was shot to death and his body burned.

Provost's family has speculated that the shooting might have been a hate crime, because the sailor was gay.

“I am requesting a full investigation into the murder,” Jackson Lee said Sunday. “This death appears bizarre, and more facts need to be uncovered.”

Navy officials said earlier this month that they had linked another sailor to the crime through physical evidence and his own statement. The sailor was taken into custody and was cooperating with the investigation, said Capt. Matt Brown, a spokesman for Navy Region Southwest in San Diego, Calif.

“There is no information that suggests this is a hate crime, but we will address any possible motivation as part of the investigation as we continue to thoroughly examine the many leads and facts in this case,” Brown said earlier this month.

Jackson Lee stood with Provost's parents on Sunday to call for a deeper investigation.

“I'm asking for a system-wide investigation, to see whether these acts are being tolerated in our military,” Jackson Lee said. “I'm appalled and outraged at the lack of facts that have been given to this family.”

Provost's mother, Melanie Provost, said Sunday the military originally told her simply that her son had been found unconscious in the guard shack and later died.

“The only way I found out my son had been shot and burned was on TV,” she said.

Her son had mentioned to her before he died that he was being harassed by some fellow sailors, but he handled it stoically, she said.

Jackson Lee said the incident should lead the military to be less tolerant of similar harassment.

“If he was being harassed, why was the bad behavior being covered up? Why was the person still there?” Jackson Lee said.

The congresswoman would like to see the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy toward gay service members lifted, but says other changes are needed to prevent discrimination of all kinds. Family members say that policy played a part in Provost's poor treatment in the Navy, however.

“Because of ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' he couldn't say anything,” said his niece, Keonna Johnson-Jones. “He couldn't go to his superiors.”

Provost's mother said she wants to ensure that no other military mothers have to endure what she has.

“He loved the Navy. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for the Navy,” she said. “But they didn't protect him.”

jennifer.latson@chron.com