Orlando TV news journalist, 9-year-old girl killed in shootings near earlier homicide scene

David Harris, Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
Updated ·6 min read
7.5k
Dylan

An Orlando TV journalist and a child were shot and killed on Wednesday evening near a crime scene where a woman was found shot to death earlier in the day, in a brutal spate of violence in Pine Hills that prompted widespread shock and grief.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina said at a news conference that the journalist for Spectrum News 13 and 9-year-old T’Yonna Major were among four people who were shot. The others were another member of the News 13 crew and the mother of the girl.

Spectrum News 13 released the names of their two journalists who were shot. Reporter Dylan Lyons, 24, a Philadelphia native and UCF grad who previously worked in Gainesville, was killed while photojournalist Jesse Walden was critically injured.

Mina said a suspect, Keith Melvin Moses, 19, was in custody — and he was also suspected in the earlier shooting of 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin.

The journalists were working on a story about Augustin’s killing in the Pine Hills neighborhood.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today,” Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum News 13, said in statement shared on Twitter.

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“Our thoughts are with our employee’s family, friends and co-workers during this very difficult time. We remain hopeful that our other colleague who was injured makes a full recovery. This is a terrible tragedy for the Orlando community.”

According to WFTV-Channel 9, which also had journalists at the scene who were not injured, the shooter walked up to the News 13 vehicle and opened fire.

“The man walked by our crew who was working in their car. Our crew ducked,” WFTV’s Nick Papantonis tweeted. “The man then walked up to the other crew working in their car and opened fire.”

The Channel 9 reporters rendered aid as first responders were called. Multiple ambulances reportedly left the scene and took the victims to Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Mina said the suspect walked up to the News 13 vehicle around 4:05 p.m. and fired into it, hitting the photographer and reporter. Both were taken to the hospital where Lyons was pronounced dead.

Moses then went to a house on Harrington Street nearby and shot a woman and her 9-year-old daughter, according to Mina. Deputies arrested Moses nearby not long after, Mina said. He had a handgun that detectives believe was used in the shooting.

Mina said the vehicle did not look like a typical news van with the markings of the TV station on it, so it was unclear if the Spectrum journalists were targeted due to their profession. It’s also not clear why Moses allegedly targeted the woman and her daughter.

“I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for the community and our media partners,” Mina said.

News 13’s staff continued live reporting Wednesday night despite their co-workers being killed and wounded.

“This is extremely devastating for all of us,” reporter Celeste Springer said on air. “But I am proud to have such an amazing team backing all of us. .... Please, please say a prayer tonight for our co-worker who is in critical condition. And while you’re at it, please say a prayer for every victim of gun violence.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also tweeted out her condolences.

“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,” she tweeted.

Earlier in the day, deputies found Augustin shot in a vehicle around 11:17 a.m. in the 6100 block of Hialeah Street. She was pronounced dead on scene.

Moses and the woman were acquaintances, Mina said.

A heavy police presence could still be seen at the scene of the incident by Wednesday evening, including several crime scene vehicles. Hialeah Street and surrounding streets were blocked off.

Mina said Moses is currently facing a murder charge in the shooting of the woman and is expected to face additional charges.

In a Twitter post, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott said: “This is absolutely horrible. My team and I are closely monitoring the situation and keeping these Floridians and their families in our prayers.”

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal history report listed more than a dozen arrests for Moses dating back to January 2018, when he was arrested on motor vehicle theft and domestic violence battery charges as a juvenile. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to a year of supervision.

Later arrests included charges of obstructing law enforcement, resisting arrest, burglary, failure to appear in court, grand theft and repeated probation violations, records show. Many of the arrests came when Moses was a minor and arrest reports were not available Wednesday night.

Court records show his most recent Orange County arrest occurred in Nov. 21, 2021, when he and two other young men were seen smoking suspected marijuana in a car near Balboa and Hernandez drives in Pine Hills. As deputies approached the vehicle, someone tossed a firearm from the passenger side, an arrest report said.

Moses, who was on felony probation from a juvenile case at the time, was arrested on charges of possessing cannabis and drug paraphernalia. The case was dropped the following month, with an assistant state attorney writing it was “not suitable for prosecution.”

In a statement, Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell said that her staff is working to provide resources to the victims’ families and will be working closely with law enforcement officers to learn more details about the shooting.

“Our sincere condolences go out to the families of those whose lives were lost today. We are praying for the victims their families and their loved ones,” she said in a statement shared on Twitter. “We are also praying for the Spectrum News 13 family and the broader Orlando journalism community, including the other reporters who were on scene and rendered aid.”

Last year, Worrell held a press conference to address a rise in gun violence and said her team would establish a plan to make the Orlando community safer.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings also offered condolences to the victims’ families.

“We are saddened by the horrific shootings that took the lives of innocent victims in Orange County today,” he said in a statement. “We work daily with our local media organizations to accurately cover the news and it is incomprehensible that a journalist has been killed while doing his job and that a child and a young woman have been killed as well.”

“[I] believe that this is a clarion call for our community to do more to stop this madness,” the statement said. “I look forward to meeting with community leaders tomorrow to discuss next steps in reducing gun violence for our community.”

Anyone with information on the shootings is asked to call Crimeline at 407-423-8477.