Jarvis Eric Preston, a 21-year-old father of a small child, was remembered by his family as a good kid who was best friends with the man who shot him. The tight-knit community of Banner Lake in Hobe Sound, Florida, was left shaken and searching for answers after an evening of drinking between friends ended in a tragic and fatal confrontation.
The incident unfolded on the evening of Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
According to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, Jarvis and a friend had been drinking together earlier in the day. Investigators believe Jarvis continued drinking into the evening and became extremely intoxicated, belligerent, and was making threats to people on the street. At some point, he allegedly attempted to rob his friend. The friend got away and went to his home on Southeast Citrus Way.
Jarvis reportedly followed him home. The friend came out of his house twice with his girlfriend. During the second time, a confrontation occurred. Sheriff’s officials stated that Jarvis began to pull out a handgun that was equipped with an extended 30-clip magazine. From about 10 feet away, his friend, who was armed with an AR-15 rifle, fired at him. Neighbors reported hearing three gunshots around 8 p.m.
Jarvis was struck three times in the chest. Authorities described the wounds as "catastrophic shots... with a high-powered rifle." After the shooting, the friend immediately dropped his weapon, disarmed Jarvis, and began administering first aid until deputies and Martin County Fire-Rescue paramedics arrived. Jarvis was airlifted to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where he succumbed to his injuries the following day, October 15, 2026.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into the shooting. The friend who fired the shots was cooperative with detectives, and his name was not publicly released. At the scene, investigators recovered Jarvis’s handgun. Sheriff John Budensiek stated that multiple witnesses corroborated the account of Jarvis’s behavior leading up to the shooting. The central question for law enforcement was whether the shooting constituted a homicide or was a justifiable act of self-defense under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. "We're really not ready to make that determination," a sheriff's office official said at the time. "But I want to make sure we do it the right way to send the right messages to the right people, so this doesn't happen again."
Jarvis’s family was left devastated and bewildered. His mother, Ebony Preston, could not understand what led to the fatal encounter. "It's just, it's dreadful, like, I can't, I can't understand what, why it expired to the way it did, because they, best friends," she said. "It's a lot of unanswered questions. But my son is dead, so how do we go from there?" Jarvis's stepfather, Rodney Clemon, shared the family's shock, reiterating, "They best friends. That's what I don't understand how it come about, 'cause they best friends."
A neighbor who knew both young men, Stephanie Rose, expressed the community's sorrow. "It's just sad, really sad," she said. "They were good kids, I mean, they got along perfectly... They were friends. I don't know what happened." As of October 2026, no arrests had been made, and the Martin County Sheriff's Office was working with the State Attorney's Office to carefully review the evidence, including searching for any available surveillance video and interviewing witnesses, to determine how to proceed. The case remained under investigation.
