Florida Business Owner Guilty of Murdering 21-Year-Old for Urinating on His Property

A powerful Key West property owner has been convicted of murdering a 21-year-old former high school football standout after shooting him for urinating behind a strip mall following Super Bowl Sunday celebrations.

Lloyd Preston Brewer III, 60, was found guilty Wednesday in the 2023 killing of Garrett Hughes and now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The deadly confrontation unfolded just after midnight on February 13, 2023, behind Conch Town Liquor & Lounge on North Roosevelt Boulevard. Prosecutors said Hughes had spent the evening drinking at the bar while watching the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl. Brewer was also at the bar that night.

After leaving, Hughes stepped behind the building and urinated on the rear wall. Brewer, who owns the strip mall that houses the bar but does not own the business itself, confronted the young man and shot him once in the torso.

Hughes was rushed to Lower Keys Medical Center, where he later died.

Brewer claimed he acted in self-defense, telling police he feared for his life after noticing people gathering in the parking lot and seeing Hughes behind the building. He alleged Hughes approached him in a threatening way and appeared to be reaching for something.

But prosecutors said that version of events did not hold up under scrutiny.

Security footage and eyewitness testimony presented at trial showed that Hughes was unarmed and did not advance toward Brewer. Instead, prosecutors said, Brewer escalated the encounter.

Assistant Monroe County State Attorney Joseph Mansfield told jurors that video showed Brewer initially approaching Hughes, then turning away — only to return moments later with his hand on a handgun tucked into his waistband.

“As he got close to Hughes, Brewer drew the weapon in a two-hand stance and fired twice, striking Hughes once,” Mansfield said.

Prosecutors argued Brewer had multiple opportunities to walk away but instead chose to re-engage while armed.

“This was not an act of self-defense,” Mansfield said following the verdict. “Lloyd Brewer had the opportunity to disengage but chose instead to return to the confrontation armed and use deadly force.”

The killing sent shockwaves through the tight-knit Key West community. Hughes was the son of John Hughes, a longtime coach of the Conchs high school football team, and was widely remembered as a young man with a bright future.

Jurors ultimately rejected Brewer’s self-defense claim, concluding the shooting was a deliberate and unjustified act. With the conviction now secured, Brewer faces spending the rest of his life behind bars for a moment of violence sparked by a minor offense that turned fatal.