Report: August Provost Murder Suspect was on "Suicide Watch"

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Report: August Provost Murder Suspect was on "Suicide Watch"

2009_07_01_PROVOST

Yet another twist in the investigation into the murder of Seaman August Provost. The Navy now admits the petty officer charged with murdering the Camp Pendleton sailor who committed suicide over the weekend ... was on suicide watch, reports the Associated Press.

Jonathan Campos was under video surveillance because he'd made two previous suicide attempts. [He] was on suicide watch when he apparently stuffed toilet paper in his mouth and suffocated Friday.

Pendleton spokeswoman Maj. Kristen Lasica-Khaner said Monday that a guard visually checked Campos every five minutes as Navy regulations require. However, there may have been a 36-minute gap between physical inspections. The base is investigating.

On Sunday, the Navy maintained it will continue investigating the homicide even after the suspect's suicide. Now the reasons become more obvious.

Twenty-nine-year-old Seaman August Provost of Houston, who gay and out to family and some coworkers, was gunned down in a Pendleton guard shack on June 30. The shack also was set on fire. Provost told his family he was harassed and ostracized at Pendleton for at least a year because he was gay and black. The Navy says there is "no evidence" of a hate crime.

Campos was accused of a month-long crime spree that included murder, solicitation off murder, drugs and weapons violations, and breaking and entering.

If the suspect in a drug- and alcohol-fueled crime spree was in on "video surveillance" and "suicide watch", how exactly was he allowed to kill himself? Why were there gaps in the "surveillance"? And how was one man able to allegedly storm a United States military installation? Perhaps Jonathan Campos' suicide was very convenient, because we may never learn what really happened that night at Guard Shack 3.