A Florida television journalist and a 9-year-old girl were fatally shot Wednesday near the scene of another deadly shooting from earlier in the day, sheriff’s deputies said.
Deputies had initially responded to the Pine Hills area, just northwest of Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday morning following reports of a woman in her 20s being shot. According to witnesses, a man approached a Spectrum News 13 news vehicle later Wednesday and opened fire, then walked to a nearby home and shot the 9-year-old and her mother.
The Spectrum News 13 journalist and the 9-year-old girl died, while a TV crewmember and the girl’s mother were wounded during the second shooting. They were in critical condition at a local hospital.
Report from Florida:Journalist and 9-year-old among 3 dead in Florida shootings, sheriff says; suspect arrested
Who is Dylan Lyons?
Dylan Lyons, 24, was a TV reporter covering a homicide investigation when he and another journalist from Spectrum News were shot. Family identified him overnight and said the station said he was born and raised in Philadelphia. The University of Central Florida graduate, who previously worked in Gainesville, was engaged to be married.
“He was an acting father to his niece and nephew who he loved so much. He loved his fiancé and and was a devoted son to his mother and father,” his sister Rachel Lyons wrote on a Go Fund Me account she started to help with funeral expenses. “Dylan would have been 25 years old in March. He was a happy soul and wonderful person in life .My brother was our baby. He was taken too early from us.”
He was a reporter at the Orlando station since July. While the station said he was raised in Philadelphia, Lyons attended and graduated high school from the Dreyfoos School of The Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2016, according to his LinkedIn account.
Photojournalist Jesse Walden was critically injured in the incident, the station said.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today,” Charter Communications said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with our employee’s family, friends and co-workers during this very difficult time.”
“I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for our community and our media partners,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina told a room full of reporters on Wednesday. “No one in our community — not a mother, not a 9-year-old, and certainly not news professionals — should become the victim of gun violence in our community.”
An arrest made in Florida shooting
Mina later confirmed that authorities arrested Keith Melvin Moses, 19, who was formally charged with murder from the first incident. Authorities expect to charge Moses for the additional shooting of the four people.
Mina added that Moses already has a “lengthy criminal history,” including gun charges, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and grand theft charges.
Mina added they don’t immediately have a motive for any of the shootings but said that Moses was an acquaintance of the woman who was killed earlier in the day.
While authorities have not previously seen violence against media in the area, Mina said they are investigating.
