A gunman killed a woman in central Florida on Wednesday, returned to the scene to kill a TV journalist who covered the death, and shot a 9-year-old girl nearby before being arrested, officials said.
Orlando’s Spectrum News 13 identified the murdered reporter as 24-year-old Dylan Lyons.
One of the station’s cameramen, Jesse Walden, was “severely injured” in the shooting, the station said. Walden was in stable condition on Thursday, according to the Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Authorities on Thursday identified the girl and woman killed in a deadly rampage across three locations as T’Yonna Major and 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said the suspect, 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, was taken into custody. His arrest ended a series of violent acts that lasted several hours in an area just west of Orlando.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said, “No one in our community, not a mother, not a nine-year-old,[and]a news expert, is a victim of gun violence in our community. It shouldn’t be.
The suspect killed three people and is also suspected of injuring the girl’s mother.
Investigators are trying to determine the motive behind the attack.
“We really don’t know what this suspect was thinking,” Mina said. “
How the deadly rampage unfolded
The first shots were reported around 11:00 am on Wednesday. A woman died in her car on Hialeah Road in Orange County. The woman is believed to be an acquaintance of her suspect, Mina said, who authorities initially described as being in her 20s.
According to the affidavit, Moses was in the car after being picked up by a cousin who offered to provide him with a car late Wednesday night. I was in the car before.
Detectives spoke to a cousin who witnessed the first shooting and whose name is not listed on the affidavit.
According to an affidavit, the cousin told investigators he was driving and had picked up a female friend from his home. He told police that he had been smoking cannabis for about 30 minutes when he saw Keith walking down the road.
According to an affidavit, the cousin told detectives, “Keith ‘looked depressed’ and offered him a ‘ride’.” The suspect entered the passenger side and sat behind the woman. Less than a minute later, the cousin said, “I heard a loud noise,” according to the affidavit.
My cousin said he stopped the car when he saw the blood on the woman’s face. According to his affidavit, he called his 911 and “Keith (Moses) ran off the scene.”
T’YONNA MAJOR 9 YEARS OLD WAS A LIGHT FOR ALL
Later in the day, after the vehicle was towed away, gunmen returned to the area and shot two Spectrum News 13 journalists who were reporting on the murder of a woman, Mina said.
The suspect then broke into a house on a nearby street and shot a mother and her 9-year-old daughter.
“I don’t know why he entered the house,” said the sheriff.
The girl’s father, Tokiyo Major, wrote on GoFundMe that T’Yonna “was a light to everyone who knew her.”
“She was everything to us,” he said. “She was top of her third grade class and an excellent student reading at the fifth grade level. Not only was she a great gymnast, she was an extrovert.”
Investigators are also investigating whether the suspect knew the Spectrum News 13 employee was a journalist.
Authorities said they believed Moses had nothing to do with journalists or the mother and daughter.
Investigators quickly identified Moses as a suspect in the initial shooting and were following a lead when the TV journalist was shot around 4 p.m., the sheriff said.
Mina said the two journalists were shot in or around the vehicle.
“That vehicle was in about the same location as the one in the murder this morning,” Mina said. “It’s unclear exactly why they were targeted.”
The journalist’s vehicle “didn’t look like a typical news vehicle with a lot of markings,” Mina said.
According to Mina, investigators recovered the Glock .40-caliber pistol used in the shooting and obtained video evidence of the suspect at the time of the shooting.
“We are still tracking how he got the firearm,” Mina said.
The suspect was “uncooperative” when confronted by agents and later got into a fight with hospital staff and had to be detained, Mina said.
Mina said Moses was “known to be part of a gang” but that the shooting was “not gang related”.
The sheriff’s office released body camera video Thursday showing Moses’ arrest.
“He has a zero in his pocket,” says one lieutenant, referring to “signal zero,” which means weapon.
In the video, the deputy is seen pulling a gun out of the suspect’s pants. The lieutenant refers to the weapon, “It’s hot, it’s still hot.”
“Every Reporter’s Absolute Worst Nightmare”
CNN affiliate Spectrum News 13 posted a tribute on its website titled “Remember 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 said in a tribute. “He loved his community, he told people’s stories, he covered the news. He was passionate about what he did.”
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Lyons moved south when he enrolled at the University of Central Florida and, according to Miller, fell in love with Orlando.
Miller said Lyons has been close to his mother and has thanked him on social media at various points in his career.
“I can’t even guess how many people will miss him, for sure,” Miller told the station.
Spectrum News 13 thanked employees from competing news outlets for rushing to help their colleagues.
Anchor Tammy Fields said, “Some of our competitors have rushed to help their colleagues, and we want them to know how much we appreciate them.” “Because when danger was imminent, they could have fled in another direction. But apparently they immediately ran to our crew and helped them.”
CNN affiliate WESH reporter Luana Muñoz described the touching scene after a fellow journalist died. According to the station, her colleague had left the crime scene on Hialeah Street shortly before the shooting.
“This is every reporter’s absolute worst nightmare. We go home at night in fear that something like this could happen. That’s what happened here,” Muñoz said. rice field. “I learned that a fellow reporter died while covering the shooting.”
“We have his family here with his fiancée and are incredibly distraught tonight,” Muñoz said. There are other media people who are standing by.”
Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum News 13, issued a statement following the attack.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives taken needlessly today. Our thoughts are with the families, friends and colleagues of our employees during this extremely difficult time.” I hope that my other colleagues who have been injured make a full recovery.This is a terrible tragedy for the Orlando community.”
In a statement, CNN called the shooting an “absolute tragedy” and said the organization “supports our affiliate partner Spectrum News 13 and will support them and the families of these journalists in any way they can.” rice field.
“Our deepest condolences to the families of the journalists killed today, the crew members injured in Orange County, Florida, and the entire Spectrum News team,” White House Press Secretary Carine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. ‘ said.
