KEY LARGO -- Donations are being sought and a fundraising concert has been scheduled for a 23-year-old Key Largo man who was assaulted last week outside a Caribbean Drive bar.

Elvez Sosa was beaten early July 5 in the parking lot of Coconuts Restaurant Nightclub by Lawrence Bril, 21, Chad Lyons, 19, and Jerrel Barnes, 18, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

Lyons and Barnes were taken to jail last Thursday and charged with felony third-degree battery.

Bril, who had injuries on his arm and hand, was not arrested initially after telling deputies he'd been attacked by Sosa in the bar. He said Lyons and Barnes hit and kicked Sosa outside the bar.

Bril, however, was arrested Sunday and charged with aggravated battery.

Sosa works as a chef at Calypso's Seafood Grill and is well-liked, according to owner Todd Lollis.

"Elvez is in good spirits," Lollis said after talking with Sosa on the phone last Friday morning. He said Sosa is in a Miami hospital suffering from a broken cheek bone, broken nose and some busted teeth.

Lollis said doctors were waiting for the swelling to fade to see if Sosa required surgery. He said Sosa started working for Calypso's as a dishwasher nine years ago and has worked his way up to chef. He is also attending culinary school part-time, Lollis said.

To help raise money for Sosa, who Lollis described as the sole supporter for a wife and three children, 20WT (Twenty Weight), a Jacksonville-based band, is driving down for an July 29 benefit concert. The concert will be at The Yard, mile marker 84.7.

"We always like doing benefit concerts, especially in Keys," said Ryan Wilson, the band's guitarist. "We can play for two or three hours, if needed."

Wilson's band formed in Key Largo in 2001. He described himself as a longtime friend of Lollis.

"If something bothers him, then by proxy, it bothers me," Wilson said.

Lollis said last Friday he had collected about $400 for Sosa's family through a donation jar at the restaurant's bar.

At 12:30 a.m. July 5, deputies responded to Coconut's parking lot where they found Sosa unconscious. Witnesses told deputies they'd seen three men near Sosa.

The witnesses told deputies that the three men left the scene, running down Bahia Avenue. The three suspects were later found by deputies on Bahia Avenue with blood on their clothing and bodies. They were all identified by the witnesses as the three who injured Sosa.

Two of the three -- Lyons and Barnes -- refused to speak with deputies, asking for legal representation.

jgore@keysnews.com