Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons and photojournalist Jesse Walden were covering the shooting death of Nathacha Augustin that occurred earlier in the day Wednesday when a man that police say has a long criminal history ran up to their news vehicle and shot the journalists. The shooter then ran to a nearby house and shot a 9-year-old T’yonna Major to death and also shot her mother, who is critically injured.
Lyons died at the hospital from his injuries. News 13 reports that photojournalist Walden is “out of surgery and is talking with colleagues.”
WFTV’s Nick Papantonis, who was on the scene, said in a since-deleted tweet that the shooter walked by WFTV’s vehicle and the crew ducked. “The man then walked up to the other crew working in their car and opened fire.” Witnesses said the Spectrum News vehicle was unmarked, so it was unclear if the shooter knew they were journalists.
WFTV journalist Sabrina Maggiore reported, “Our crews rendered aid on at least one victim before emergency crews arrived.”
Orange County Sheriff John W. Mina said police had “detained the person believed to be responsible for the murder this morning as well as the shootings this afternoon.” Mina said the shooter was 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses.
“At 19,” Mina said, “he has a lengthy criminal history, to include gun charges, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and grand theft charges.” (See video of the news conference.)
The sheriff said that it was unclear why the five victims shot on Wednesday were targeted. The 20-year-old woman was an acquaintance of the gunman, Mina said.
Spectrum reporter Celeste Springer, covering the breaking news story, said on the air:
This is extremely devastating for all of us, but I am proud to have such an amazing team backing all of us, we really are such an incredible family. And of course we are all praying for our news members.
A couple of hours ago before we learned that our news member had passed away, we all sat in a circle here and said a quick prayer. And all I can ask for anyone watching at home right now is please, please say a prayer for our co-worker who is in critical condition. And while you are at it, please say a prayer for every victim of gun violence in this country.
Dylan Lyons was born and raised in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Central Florida, where he started his journalism career while anchoring and reporting in school.
He moved to Gainesville to do what he loved — anchoring and reporting the news.
“He took his job very seriously. He loved his career. He loved what he did,” said Spectrum Sports 360 reporter and friend, Josh Miller. “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 anchor/podcaster Ybeth Bruzual shared:
💔 Numb. Heartbroken. I’m trying to get to all of your messages, but it’s hard. A child is gone, 1 of our reporters gone, 1 of our photographers hospitalized….so many impacted in this shooting. This memorial is outside the hospital. @MyNews13 #PrayersPlease https://t.co/vZCc4KIiHV pic.twitter.com/BUT9JzSXHJ
— Ybeth Bruzual (@ybruzual) February 23, 2023
The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement:
“It is deeply disturbing that a journalist was killed while covering the gun violence that has become a sickening reality of living in the United States. Reporters must be able to cover the news without having to fear for their lives,” said @kajtweets. https://t.co/eCCyHyl28d pic.twitter.com/MEJlYpSB0f
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) February 23, 2023
“In this community of journalists,” WKMG anchor Ginger Gadsden said, “it is a tight-knit community, and when you are out in the field you have each other’s back … our hearts are heavy.”
Reporting from the hospital where the News 13 photojournalist was undergoing surgery, News 6 WKMG reporter Jerry Askin said, choking back tears, “I am trying to keep it together, because we are people. Out here in the field, we cover stories, we are friends, even though we are competitors, we are friends in the field.
“A lot of the journalists here on the scene are crying, trying to make sense of this and accept the reality that this happens. We go out in the field every day and we are assigned the stories and we do our stories and no one thinks they would never come home.”
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel dug into the criminal history of the man who is charged in the shootings and found:
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 on 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.”
We send our condolences to @MyNews13 and all families impacted by this tragedy.
We value the relationships we have with our media partners as we all serve our communities together providing critical information. https://t.co/CI4WHWNHY0
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) February 23, 2023
Mina told reporters Wednesday night:
I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for our community and our media partners. I work closely with all of you and know many of you and know the very difficult job that you do and also the very important job that you do for our community and for law enforcement. 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.
Spectrum’s parent company, Charter Communications, released a statement saying:
We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today. 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.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre posted a tweet:
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.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) February 23, 2023
This article was first published at 12:43 a.m. on Feb. 23. It was last updated at 10:32 a.m.
