UPDATE: Mandeville businessman became withdrawn before suicide

Tamara Bailey, Gleaner Writer

For weeks, they picked up that something was "off" but relatives of 33-year-old Mandeville businessman Jason Neil couldn't quite figure it out.

Now, they are hurt after Neil this morning shot and killed himself in the bathroom of his Ingleside house on the outskirts of the Manchester capital.

His pregnant wife was also at home about 7 o’clock when she heard an explosion and rushed to find Neil with a gunshot wound to his head and his licensed firearm beside him, a relative told The Gleaner.

IN PHOTO: A police crime scene tape at the gate to the house where Jason Neil is suspected to have committed suicide this morning

"We knew something was off because he wasn't driving his trucks and he looked as if he wasn't here," the relative said.

Neil, one of the proprietors of Neil’s Auto in Mandeville often drove a wrecker for the business.

The relative said family members, co-workers and friends were concerned that Neil had become withdrawn.

"We saw that he wasn't socialising as he used to. He was making small calls that he wouldn't normally do, like call and tell me to bring fruits for him…We don’t know if these calls were calls for help because he wasn't really talking and when you asked him what was happening, he would smile and say ‘everything is good’…”

According to the relative, Neil became withdrawn three weeks ago when he returned from a trip to Canada.

"It really hurt me when I think that he was going through things he didn't talk about because if he did, he would have gotten all the help in the world because this family is a very tight unit," he said.

Neil, who got married on December 31, 2016, was described as a jovial person.

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