BEAUFORT, S.C. (Aug. 1, 2025) – A Hardeeville man who fatally shot a 19-year-old Colombian immigrant outside a Hilton Head Island convenience store has been convicted of murder.
Nayquan Unique “Switch” Gadson, 22, also was found guilty Friday in Beaufort County General Sessions Court of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. He was found not guilty on a charged of armed robbery. He was sentenced to life in prison.
The conviction followed testimony from the victim’s girlfriend, who identified Gadson in court as the man she saw attacking Breiner Daniel Puerto-Gonzalez during a live video call.
“This murder was not merely senseless—it was entirely random,” said Deputy Solicitor Mary Jones of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case. “This defendant encountered Breiner Puerto-Gonzalez by chance and killed him moments later because he knew he was alone and carrying cash. It’s simply sickening. This jury served justice by taking Nayquan Gadson off the streets.”
Puerto-Gonzalez, a Bogotá native in the U.S. on a work visa, was employed by a Hilton Head Island hotel. He was shot Nov. 15, 2022, near North Ridge Plaza on William Hilton Parkway. Sheriff’s deputies responding to a 911 call found him dead from a gunshot wound to the neck, his bicycle nearby.
Surveillance video from a nearby convenience store showed Gadson and his co-defendant, Cristopher Alexander “Pito” Escobedo, arriving on bicycles. They loitered in and near the parking lot after finding the store locked. Puerto-Gonzalez arrived minutes later while on a video call with his girlfriend in Colombia and was let inside by a clerk who knew him. Gadson followed him in, while Escobedo stayed outside.
Puerto-Gonzalez made two purchases. Between them, Gadson bought cigars and left. Puerto-Gonzalez exited the store shortly afterward and rode in the same direction the defendants had gone.
When Escobedo stopped to urinate in bushes, he heard Gadson begin assaulting Puerto-Gonzalez. He testified that he tried to intervene, and as he did, the victim attempted to flee. But then Gadson opened fire, shooting once, then four more times in quick succession.
Puerto-Gonzalez was shot through the neck. His body was discovered by the owner of a nearby restaurant after he closed for the night.
Deputies recovered five .40-caliber shell casings at the scene. Surveillance footage showed Escobedo running from the area and Gadson riding off on a bicycle seven seconds behind. Gadson later sent Escobedo back to retrieve his own bike and the victim’s cellphone. He also summoned a friend to drive him and Escobedo out of the county before they split up.
Two days after the killing, Escobedo, 21, flew to his father’s home in Honduras, however, he returned shortly after at his mother’s urging and cooperated with investigators. He pleaded guilty in December 2023 to accessory after the fact of murder. He was sentenced to five years, suspended to three years of probation. After violating probation, he was ordered to serve his prison term. He testified against Gadson.
Gadson was arrested weeks later at a relative’s house in Port Wentworth, Ga., where he fled after the killing.
Though the murder weapon was never recovered, a video found on Gadson’s cellphone showed him carrying a handgun consistent with the firearm used in the murder.
Jones called 24 witnesses over three days of testimony. Among them was Puerto-Gonzalez’s girlfriend, who was expected to corroborate the time of the killing and testimony from other witnesses about her boyfriend’s final moments. She had never seen a photo or video of Gadson but told jurors that when she saw him for the first time in the courtroom, she immediately recognized him as one of the men visible during the video call.
Circuit Court Judge Robert Bonds handed down the sentence.
Gadson still faces a pending charge in Jasper County for criminal sexual conduct with a minor and drug trafficking. He is presumed innocent of those charges unless and until proven guilty.
Jones is a member of the Career Criminal Unit, which prosecutes the circuit’s most violent and habitual offenders. That team has earned convictions against 524 of the 576 defendants it has prosecuted since its inception in 2009.
Nayquan Gadson
