Garrett Daniel Hughes, 21, was well known in Key West as a former standout in football and lacrosse at Key West High School, a first mate, and a youth coach who stayed involved in local sports. In the early morning hours of February 13, 2023, shortly after the Super Bowl, Hughes was outside the now-closed Conch Town Liquor & Lounge on North Roosevelt Boulevard. Security camera footage shows him intoxicated, shirtless and unarmed, urinating on an adjacent building when Lloyd Preston Brewer III, then 57 and the owner’s family’s businessman, crossed the parking lot and confronted him. Brewer fired one shot, striking Hughes in the abdomen.

Hughes was taken to Lower Keys Medical Center and died as doctors prepared to airlift him to a trauma hospital in Miami-Dade County. Prosecutors charged Brewer with first-degree murder and related weapons offenses; his attorneys argued self-defense under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, while prosecutors pointed to the footage showing Hughes unarmed and not advancing. A jury later returned a guilty verdict and the case was closed in February 2026.

Does anyone who knew Garrett or witnessed that night have information to share?