Investigators believe August Provost's death was a "Random Act"

Tragic death of August Provost has caused his family to ask questions. His complaints were not taken seriously and now he's dead.

His family want answers...and we do too. He was shot 3 times, tied up and burned. That was done out of anger and hate.

Rose Roy of Beaumont said her nephew, Navy Seaman August Provost III, had complained a year before about being harassed for being gay.

Roy said she advised Provost to report and document the incidents, but she said the military did little to help.

“He went to the Navy to serve and protect,” she said in an interview with Beaumont’s KFDM News, “he didn’t get protected at all.”

Roy told The Associated Press that the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy discouraged her nephew from asking for help.

“That phrase is just stupid because it tells them they have no one to speak to,” she said.

The family plans to hold funeral services July 10 in Houston.

Democratic Rep. Bob Filner of San Diego said Thursday he wants a Defense Department investigation into the death, after leaders of the city’s gay community asked him to intervene.

Investigators have called the sailor’s death a random act unrelated to the his sexuality and have taken a “person of interest” into custody. No charges have been filed.

Roy said Provost joined the Navy in March 2008 to pay off college debt.

This is beyond tragic. I really hope they find this person or people who did this. Now, I could be assuming and I could be wrong, but I believe his murder is a hate crime.

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