PPP Loan Used To Pay Hit Man Who Killed Miami TSA Officer: Report

Miami FL

17 February, 2022

8:01 AM

Description

MIAMI, FL — A South Florida woman used federal COVID-19 relief funds to hire a hit man to kill a Miami International Airport worker who was dating her ex-boyfriend. Jasmine Martinez, 33, received $15,000 through the Paycheck Protection Program in April after applying for a pandemic relief loan to support her single-employee beauty salon, the Miami Herald reported. She's accused of withdrawing $10,000 from these funds to pay an ex-con, 29-year-old Javon Carter, to kill Le'Shonte Jones, a Transportation Security Administration officer. He shot the 24-year-old outside her apartment in South Miami-Dade County as she returned home from a shift at the airport on May 3, 2021. Jones was killed in front of her 3-year-old daughter, who was also injured in the shooting, Miami-Dade police said in a news release. The airport employee was declared dead at the scene by Miami Fire Rescue, while the toddler was airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. Three suspects – Carter, Martinez and her new boyfriend, Romiel Robinson, 35 – have been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder with a deadly weapon, police said. Martinez was taken into custody in Port St. Lucie Friday, while Carter and Robinson were arrested in Miami earlier this month. In a Facebook post, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle called Jones' death "senseless," lamenting that "her young and promising life (was) taken away too soon."