Journalist Killed While Covering Florida Shooting; Child Fatally Wounded & Second Spectrum News Employee Injured

Dominic Patten
·3 min read
3

UPDATE, Thursday: Dylan Lyons, 24, was the Spectrum News 13 journalist who was shot and killed while covering the scene of a homicide on Wednesday.

A fellow reporter and friend, Josh Miller, said, per the news outlet, “He took his job very seriously. He loved his career. He loved what he did. He loved the community, telling the stories of people, reporting on the news, and he was just passionate about what he did.”

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A photo journalist, Jesse Walden, also was critically injured in the shooting.

Police have also identified a suspect, Keith Melvin Moses, 19.

PREVIOUSLY, Wednesday, 5:34 p.m. PT: An Orlando journalist was killed today while covering a shooting that occurred earlier Wednesday.

The Orange County Florida Sheriff’s Office now says it has taken a 19-year old man into custody for the death of the Spectrum News 13 employee and a 9-year old girl.

“We have detained the person believed to be responsible for the murder this morning as well as the shooting this afternoon,” Sheriff John Mina said in a hastily called press conference. “He is being formally charged in the murder from this morning and we expect additional charges for the shooting of the four people this afternoon.”

As well as being implicated in the death of a women in her 20s earlier Wednesday as well as the journalist and the young girl, the suspect shot another News 13 staffer and the 9-year old’s mother. The other journalist and the parent are in critical condition in a nearby hospital, according to law enforcement officials.

Sheriff Mina said the photographer and reporter were in their news van at the Pine Hills location at around 3 PM ET when the suspect approached their vehicle and fired inside. Soon afterwards, the suspect went to a home close by and shot the child and her mother inside. Officers were close by because of the earlier shooting.

“It’s unclear why exactly they were targeted,” Sheriff Mina admitted of the shooting of the news crew. “And, you know, certainly we’re going to look into that.” The suspect, whose name Deadline is declining to publicize, has a “lengthy criminal history, according to the Sheriff.

Besides the arrested suspect, no names have been released as of yet.

As news of the killings began to come out, Radio Television Digital News Association president & CEO Dan Shelly took to social media to offer condolences:

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wrote on Twitter, “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. Our hearts are also with the other shooting victims today, their families, and the entire community. Too many lives are being ripped apart by gun violence.”

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