A Key West businessman has been indicted on first-degree murder and other charges in the fatal shooting of a high school football coach’s son after the young man relieved himself on a wall outside a bar.
Lloyd Brewer III, 57, previously faced a top charge of second-degree murder for opening fire on 21-year-old Garrett Daniel Hughes on Feb. 13 in front of the young man’s brother outside Conch Town Liquor & Lounge.
Brewer owns the strip mall that houses the bar on North Roosevelt Boulevard in the New Town neighborhood.
An attorney for the victim’s family told Fox News Digital that Hughes urinated on the wall of a building that wasn’t even owned by Brewer.
“This is a violent murder that has left the family devastated and, frankly, the city of Key West as well,” said Stuart Grossman, who is suing Brewer for wrongful death on behalf of the Hughes family. “Garrett was well-known for his athletic skills and personality in Key West.”
His father, John Hughes, is the head football coach at Key West High School, where his slain son was a standout athlete in football and lacrosse, Grossman said.
The attorney also filed a 101-page memo on June 7 in the criminal case to oppose Brewer’s release on bond, arguing that his family’s extreme wealth and his prior criminal record make him a flight risk.
The Brewer family trust owns 16 properties in Georgia alone, the filing says. The indictment with the upgraded murder charge was filed last week.
Brewer told police he didn’t know Hughes, who was hanging out at the bar that night with his brother, Carson Hughes, and their friends, Blake Arencibia and Logan Pellicier.
Carson Hughes, Arencibia and Pellicier were all employed by the Key West Fire Department at the time, according to court papers.
Shortly after midnight, Garrett Hughes was recorded on grainy surveillance video walking out of the bar shirtless toward the wall of another building.
Brewer can be seen reaching into his waistband and walking across the parking lot directly toward Hughes as the young man faces a wall and relieves himself, prosecutors wrote in court papers.
As Brewer advanced, he pointed his gun at Hughes, who was unarmed, according to prosecutors.
“When the defendant reached the victim, a brief scuffle ensued. During the scuffle the defendant fired the shot that fatally wounded the victim,” the filing says. Carson Hughes, who can be seen in the surveillance footage, witnessed the killing.
Brewer is also charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for threatening Carson with the same gun he used to end his brother’s life and for violation of a concealed firearm permit.
Brewer called 911 and claimed that Garrett was the aggressor.
“I just shot someone,” Brewer told the dispatcher, according to the 911 transcript obtained by Local10News.
When the dispatcher asked why Brewer had fired, he responded, “He came at me aggressively in my parking lot at Conch Town.”
Prosecutors say the video contradicts Brewer’s claim of self-defense. In the wrongful death lawsuit against Brewer, his family and their businesses, Grossman described Brewer as a “known, habitual drunkard.”
Grossman called the alleged murder “totally unjustified and premeditated.”
After graduating from high school in 2020, Garrett considered joining the Key West Fire Department like his brother but instead pursued his passion for diving and fishing, according to his obituary.
He is survived by his father, his mother, Lesley Touzalin, and his five brothers. Brewer is currently being held without bond at the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. His attorney, Chris Mancini, declined to comment.
