The body of an openly gay sailor was found in a guard shack outside of Camp Pendleton, a USMC base just outside San Diego. The case may be investigated as a hate crime. The body of Seaman August Provost of Houston, Texas, was discovered about 3:30 a.m. on the western edge of the base. The family was told that he was shot three times, had his hands and feet bound, his mouth gagged, and body burned. A “person of interest” was being held in the Navy brig at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
The victim's boyfriend said that Provost had been out to trusted friends in the Navy. Provost III, had complained a year before about being harassed for being gay and was advised to report and document the incidents, but the military did little to help.
Investigators have called the sailor’s death a random act unrelated to the his sexuality.
