KEY WEST, Fla. – A Key West business owner was arrested after he shot and killed an unarmed man urinating on the side of his building early Monday morning, according to Monroe County’s top prosecutor.
Lloyd Preston Brewer III, 57, shot Garrett Hughes, 21, just before 12:30 a.m. outside the Searstown shopping center along North Roosevelt Boulevard, police said.
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Key West Fire Rescue crews took Hughes to Lower Keys Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to police.
Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward told Local 10 News that Brewer, who owns a building containing a bar and other tenants, reportedly confronted Hughes, who was drunk, for urinating along the wall of the building.
Ward said surveillance video showed Brewer, who was also drunk, getting out of his car to confront Hughes, who was shirtless and unarmed.
“(Hughes) is kind of stumbling around and (Brewer) pulls up his shirt, pulls out a gun and pumps a shot into his stomach,” Ward said.
Ward said that Brewer may have fired another shot. He said Brewer then called 911 to report that he shot Hughes in self-defense, “but the video doesn’t support that theory.”
“That’s a whole new level of senselessness, isn’t it?” Ward said.
Ward said investigators have found no evidence of any prior disputes between Brewer and Hughes.
Brewer, listed on the Monroe County Jail roster as a Key Haven resident, was booked on a second-degree murder charge and a weapons charge.