Inset: Lloyd Preston Brewer III (Monroe County Sheriff's Office). Background: The since-shuttered Conch Town Liquor & Lounge where Brewer shot and killed a man in Key West, Fla. (Google Maps).
A Florida man will likely spend the next several decades behind bars because he shot and killed a man who drunkenly urinated on his family's strip mall, prosecutors announced on Wednesday.
Lloyd Preston Brewer III, 60, was found guilty this week by a jury of his peers in Monroe County on one count of murder in the first degree.
He now faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole over the fatal shooting of Garrett Hughes, 21.
The underlying incident occurred on Feb. 13, 2023, at the parking lot of Conch Town Liquor & Lounge on Roosevelt Boulevard in Key West.
Surveillance footage shows Brewer confronting the shirtless victim after Hughes urinates on the side of the building. The assailant is seen reaching toward his waistband before raising his arms. An altercation then occurs — though the shooting itself is unclear in the grainy clip.
The defendant fired two shots — one of which struck the victim in the abdomen. Moments later, Hughes died in the alleyway behind the bar.
Police would describe the defendant as going into a "shooting stance" before the fatal shot took the young man's life, according to a police report obtained by Miami-based ABC affiliate WPLG.
"(Hughes) is kind of stumbling around, and (Brewer) pulls up his shirt, pulls out a gun and pumps a shot into his stomach," Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward previously told the TV station.
Prosecutors described the killing in more detail this week.
"As Brewer advanced the second time, surveillance video and eyewitness testimony established that Brewer had his hand on the butt of a firearm carried in his waistband," a press release reads. "As he closed the distance, Brewer drew the firearm and extended his arms into a two-handed shooting stance."
The defendant was originally arrested on one count of second-degree murder. In June 2023, Brewer, the owner of the strip mall where the victim was urinating, was indicted on the more serious charge.
Lloyd Preston Brewer III in his original booking photo (Monroe County Sheriff's Office).
The fatal incident occurred on a Super Bowl Sunday; the drinking establishment where both men had been imbibing alcohol prior to the shooting has since permanently closed.
Brewer claimed he acted in self-defense during his own 911 call.
"Yes, hello, I just shot someone," the defendant says in the recording.
The dispatcher then asks who the man shot.
"I don't know," Brewer says before asking someone nearby for the dying man's name. "Garrett Hughes."
The dispatcher then asks why the defendant shot the victim.
"He came at me aggressively in my parking lot at Conch Town," Brewer replies.
The defendant would maintain his self-defense claim for years, but that claim was rejected by a court of appeals in July 2025.
During the ensuing confrontation, Brewer walked toward Hughes and at first turned away. Then, the defendant turned back and walked toward Hughes a second time – armed with a gun – and cornered him.
"This was not an act of self-defense," Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield said in a statement provided to Law&Crime. "The jury saw the evidence, rejected Brewer's account, and held him accountable for a premeditated killing."
During the trial, Brewer's defense did not call any witnesses.
The state, for its part, proved to jurors that Brewer's statements to law enforcement did not align with the sequence of events shown on the surveillance video or with eyewitness testimony, prosecutors said.
"This case showed a conscious and deliberate decision to escalate a confrontation into deadly violence," Major Crimes Assistant State Prosecutor Colleen Dunne said. "We are deeply grateful to the witnesses who came forward and testified, knowing the difficulty and responsibility that come with telling the truth in a murder trial. Their courage, combined with clear video evidence and thorough investigative work, ensured that justice was done for Garrett Hughes."
The defendant is slated to be sentenced on Feb. 26 by 16th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Mark Jones.
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