ORLANDO, Fla. — A gunman in central Florida killed a lady Wednesday, returned to the scene and killed a TV journalist protecting that demise, after which fatally shot a 9-year-old woman close by earlier than he was arrested, authorities stated.
Spectrum News 13 in Orlando recognized the slain reporter as 24-year-old Dylan Lyons. One of the station’s photographers, Jesse Walden, was “critically injured” in the shooting, the station stated.
Authorities recognized the woman and girl who have been killed in the lethal rampage that spanned three places as 9-year-old T’yonna Major and 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin.
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The suspect, 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, has been taken into custody, Orange County Sheriff John Mina stated. He appeared in court docket Thursday.
His arrest ended a spate of violence that stretched a number of hours in a neighborhood simply west of Orlando.
Police launched bodycam video Thursday of Moses’ arrest, which, police say, exhibits Moses nonetheless had the gun used in these shootings when officers discovered him.
Part of the video has been blurred by police.
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“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,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina stated.
In addition to the three killings, the suspect can also be accused of injuring the woman’s mom.
Investigators try to find out the motive behind the assaults.
“We really don’t know what was in the mind of this suspect,” Mina stated. “Hopefully at some point that he’ll talk to us about what his motives were.”
How the lethal rampage unfolded
The first shooting was reported round 11 a.m. Wednesday. A lady in her 20s was killed inside a automobile on Hialeah Street in Orange County. That girl is believed to be an acquaintance of the suspect, Mina stated.
Later in the day, after that automobile had been towed, the gunman returned to the world and shot two Spectrum News 13 journalists who have been protecting the girl’s killing, Mina stated.
The suspect then entered a house on a close-by road and shot a mom and her 9-year-old daughter, the sheriff stated. Both have been taken to a hospital, the place the kid died and the mom was in vital situation Wednesday night, authorities stated.
“We don’t know why he entered that home,” the sheriff stated.
Investigators are also wanting into whether or not the suspect knew that the Spectrum News 13 staff have been journalists.
Authorities stated they imagine Moses had no connection to the journalists nor the mom and her daughter.
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Investigators rapidly recognized Moses as a suspect in the primary shooting and have been following leads when the TV journalists have been shot round 4 p.m., the sheriff stated.
The two journalists have been shot in or round their automobile, Mina stated.
“That vehicle was almost exactly in the same spot as the vehicle was from the homicide this morning,” Mina stated. “It’s unclear why exactly they were targeted.”
The journalists’ automobile “didn’t look like a typical news vehicle with a lot of markings on it,” Mina stated.
‘Every reporter’s completely worst nightmare’
Spectrum News 13, a CNN affiliate, posted a tribute on its web site titled “Remembering Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons.”
“He took his job very seriously. He loved his career. He loved what he did,” fellow reporter Josh Miller stated in the tribute. “He loved the community, telling the stories of people, reporting on the news, and he was just passionate about what he did.”
Spectrum News 13 additionally thanked staff of competing news shops for dashing to their colleagues’ help.
“Some of our competitors … rushed to the aid of our colleagues, and we want them to know how much we appreciate them,” anchor Tammie Fields stated. “Because when danger was happening, they could have run the other way. But apparently they ran right over to our crews and helped.”
Luana Munoz, a reporter for CNN affiliate WESH, described an emotional scene after her fellow journalist died. Her colleagues had left the crime scene on Hialeah Street moments earlier than the shooting, based on the station.
“This is every reporter’s absolutely worst nightmare. We go home at night afraid that something like this will occur and that is what happened here,” Munoz stated. “We have learned that a fellow reporter has died while covering a shooting.”
“There are members of his family here, along with his fiancée, who are incredibly distraught tonight,” Munoz stated. “There are other media people who are corralled together and standing in solidarity tonight as one of our own has passed.”
Spectrum News 13’s father or mother firm, Charter Communications, launched an announcement following the assault.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today,” the assertion reads. (*2*)
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In an announcement, CNN referred to as the shooting “an absolute tragedy” and famous that the group “stands with our affiliate partner, Spectrum News 13, and will support them and the families of these journalists in any way we can.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre launched an announcement, saying, “Our hearts go out to the family of the journalist killed today and the crew member injured in Orange County, Florida, as well as the whole Spectrum News team.”
After seeing the heartbreaking news from Spectrum News 13 in Orlando, the Reporters Committee shared an announcement of solidarity with the journalism neighborhood – mourning the deaths of Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons and wishing for the complete restoration of Spectrum News photojournalist Jesse Walden, in addition to sending our condolences to the family members of the opposite people who have been killed in associated shootings.
“We are devastated by the death of Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons, who was fatally shot while reporting at the scene of a homicide investigation. The Reporters Committee joins the journalism community in mourning his death and sends our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues, as well as to the loved ones of the other individuals who were killed in related shootings that day. We also stand with all those who are wishing for the full recovery of those who were injured, including Spectrum News photojournalist Jesse Walden. Every day, journalists across the country go out into the field to do the essential work of bringing important information to their communities. We are sadly seeing journalism become an increasingly dangerous profession in the United States, and it should not be this way,” Executive Director Bruce Brown stated in an announcement.
(The-CNN-Wire & 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.)
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