US journalist reporting on Florida murder killed after gunman returns to scene of the crime
- Dylan Lyons was covering a woman’s shooting death when the assailant returned to the neighbourhood and killed him and a 9-year-old girl
- Suspect Keith Melvin Moses has been charged with first-degree murder for the initial shooting and faces ‘numerous’ more charges
A man riding in a car with his cousin shot and killed another passenger then returned to the same neighbourhood near Orlando hours later and shot four more people, killing a journalist covering the original shooting and a nine-year-old girl, Florida police and witnesses said.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina characterised the shootings on Wednesday as random acts of violence. Mina said during a news conference that 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the initial shooting that killed Nathacha Augustin, 38, and that “numerous more charges” would follow.
Spectrum News 13 identified the slain reporter as Dylan Lyons. Photographer Jesse Walden was also wounded. Mina said Walden has been talking to investigators while being treated at a hospital.
The two were in an unmarked news vehicle on Wednesday afternoon covering the first homicide when a man approached and shot them, Mina said. The man then went to a nearby home where he fatally shot T’yonna Major and critically wounded the girl’s mother. Officials have not released the mother’s name.
Mina said Thursday that investigators do not know the motive for any of the shootings. He said Moses is a known gang member but that the shootings did not appear to be gang-related.