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Florida Woman Paid Hitman to Kill TSA Agent Using Pandemic Small Business Loan: Cops

Jasmine Martinez, who claimed to be the sole employee of a beauty salon, is accused of putting the hit out on TSA officer Le’Shonte Jones, killed in the attack last year.

A man accused of the contract killing of a Transportation Security Administration employee last year was paid by a woman with money meant to keep her small business afloat during the pandemic, according to court records. Jasmine Martinez, the self-described owner of a one-woman beauty salon, was given a $15,000 federal payroll protection loan last April. Just days before the hit on security officer Le’Shonte Jones was allegedly carried out by ex-convict Javon Carter, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday, Martinez withdrew more than two-thirds of the loan. It remains unclear whether she was in fact the owner of a beauty business, but police said they believed Martinez used the funds to pay Carter to fatally shoot Jones on her doorstep on May 3, 2021. Martinez, who has denied any involvement in the slaying, allegedly nursed a long-standing grudge against Jones after several negative interactions, according to detectives. She was arrested, along with Carter and a third man, Romiel Robinson, earlier this month.