Orlando shooting – live: Suspect pretended to be asleep during police interview, sheriff says
Shooter returned to scene and killed Spectrum News 13 reporter covering earlier homicide as well as young girl before being taken into custody
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A 19-year-old gunman accused of killing a nine-year-old girl and a local journalist reporting on his earlier homicide in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday had a “lengthy” criminal record, local authorities have said.
A 20-year-old woman had been shot dead earlier on Wednesday, prompting a crew from a local news channel reaching the spot in the Pine Hills area to cover the incident on the same day, where a journalist and a videographer was shot when the suspect returned to the scene.
Sheriff John Mina said during a press conference on Thursday that the suspect Keith Melvin Moses pretended to be asleep during an interview with police.
He added that he was taken to hospital after saying that he was unable to breathe. There, he fought with medical staff and had to be restrained. He then also become physical with detectives and had to be restrained again, the sheriff said.
Sheriff Mina said it was a “random act of violence” and that the Sheriff’s office is still working to establish why the shooting take place.
“This was not gang-related,” he added.
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Journalist killed in Orlando shooting identified as Spectrum News reporter Dylan Lyons
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Killed reporter moved from Philadelphia to Florida to pursue career
Dylan Lyons was born and raised in Philadelphia, and graduated from the University of Central Florida, his TV station said. Before joining Spectrum News, he worked for a station in Gainesville.
Rachel Lyons, the reporter’s older sister, is raising money for his funeral in a GoFundMe account. She wrote that Lyons would have turned 25 in March. He is also survived by his parents and fiancée.
In a tweet sent Thursday morning, Mina said “no one in our community, not a 9 year old child or a media professional should become of victim of gun violence.”
What happened?
Around 11am on Wednesday morning, a woman in her 20s was found shot dead in her vehicle on Hialeah Drive in the Pine Hills neighbourhood of Orlando.
That afternoon, a news crew from local station Spectrum News 13 arrived to record a report on the incident, only for the gunman to return to the scene at around 4.05pm and fire into the team’s unmarked van, killing a reporter and severely injuring a photographer.
The shooter then fled, entering a nearby house on Harrington Street and opening fire on the occupants, injuring a mother and killing her daughter, aged just nine.
Sheriff says he’s ‘100 per cent confident’ that additional homicide charges will be filed
Sheriff John Mina noted during a press briefing on Thursday that the suspect, Keith Melvin Moses, 19, has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Nathacha Augustin, 38.
He added that there are additional charges to file in the killings of Dylan Lyons, 24, and a nine-year-old girl, T’yonna Major.
“I am 100 per cent confident that we will charge him with homicide” in those killings in addition to “numerous other charges,” the sheriff said.
“We're not looking for anyone else. He's our guy. He's the suspect,” he said.
‘Robbery with a deadly weapon’ in suspects criminal history
During a Thursday press briefing, Sheriff John Mina spoke of the Glock 40 handgun that was found after the shooting.
“Obviously, we're still going to do ballistics testing on the firearm but our detectives believe that was the firearm used in this case,’ he said.
He added that the suspect has “a criminal history. Many of the arrests stemming from when he was a juvenile, including possession of a firearm by a minor and robbery with a deadly weapon”.
Fiancée of Spectrum News journalist killed in Orlando shooting pays tribute to ‘love of my life’
The fiancée of a broadcast journalist killed while reporting on a shooting has paid tribute to “the love of her life.”
Spectrum News reporter Dylan Lyons, 24, was fatally shot on Wednesday night when a gunman returned to the scene of the shooting in the Orlando neighbourhood of Pine Hills. His cameraman Jesse Walden also sustained critical injuries during the shooting.
The suspect then entered a nearby house and shot a mother and daughter, killing the nine-year-old and leaving the parent injured. Keith Melvin Moses, 19, has since been arrested and charged with murder.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, tributes have poured in for the slain journalist, who had started working at Spectrum News last July. Sharing a GoFundMe created to raise funds for his funeral, Mr Lyons’s fiancée Casey Lynn called him “the love of [her] life.”
“The love of my life was murdered. I will never be the same person ever again. Please help my family and [me] during this time,” she wrote.
Read more:
Fiancée of Spectrum News journalist killed in Orlando shooting pays tribute
Dylan Lyons, 24, was fatally shot on Wednesday night when a gunman returned to the scene of a shooting he was covering
Everything we know about the Orlando gunman
A 19-year-old suspect has been charged with first-degree murder in Orlando, Florida, after an outbreak of gun violence on Wednesday that left three people dead and two more in a critical condition in hospital.
Police were called to Hialeah Drive in the Pine Hills neighbourhood of the city at around 11am on Wednesday morning after a woman in her 20s was found shot dead in her vehicle.
That afternoon, a news crew from local station Spectrum News 13 arrived to record a report on the incident. The gunman returned to the scene at around 4.05pm and fired into the team’s unmarked van, killing a reporter and severely injuring a photographer.
The shooter then fled, entering a nearby house on Harrington Street and opened fire on the occupants, injuring a mother and killing her daughter, aged just nine.
The original victim, the child and her wounded mother have yet to be named but the deceased reporter was named by his employer on Thursday as Dylan Lyons, 24. He was a Philadelphia native who had attended the University of Central Florida and begun his career in Gainesville.
Read more:
Everything we know about the Orlando gunman
Suspect Keith Melvin Moses, 19, is facing one first-degree murder charge and expected to be charged over the shooting of four other victims
The victims
The TV reporter shot dead by the gunman was subsequently named by his employer as Dylan Lyions, 24.
In a moving tribute to Lyons, his Spectrum News colleagues explained that he had been born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but had moved to the Sunshine State to study at the University of Central Florida, beginning his media career in Gainesville after graduating.
“He took his job very seriously,” remembered his friend Josh Miller, a sports reporter with the network.
“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.
“When he was out of the news station, he was still talking about how much he wanted to succeed at his job, talking about how much he loved Orlando.”
Lyons had already received an award from the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists and been a finalist for another, his obituary records.
Rachel Lyons, the deceased’s older sister, is raising money for his funeral in a GoFundMe account. She wrote that Lyons would have turned 25 in March. He is also survived by his parents and fiancee.
The wounded photographer has likewise been named as Jesse Walden, 29, who remains in hospital recovering from his injuries.
Like Lyons, Mr Walden is not from Florida, having previously graduated from New Mexico State University and worked in Albuquerque and then Salt Lake City, Utah, according to The New York Post.
WFTV crews, who were also reporting on the morning shooting, are said to have tried to give medical aid to the Spectrum 13 journalists.
Neither the first victim nor the mother and daughter have yet been named by authorities, although the injured woman is believed to be receiving care in hospital.
“We don’t know why he entered their home,” the sheriff said.
Reporter was about to turn 25 next month
In the description of a fundraiser, Dylan Lyons’ sister described him as a happy soul who was taken too early from his loved ones.
“He was an acting father to his niece and nephew who he loved so much. He loved his [fiancée] and was a devoted son to his mother and father,” Rachel Lyons wrote. “Dylan would have been 25 years old in March ... my brother was our baby.”
Mr Lyon’s killing has rocked the local journalism community in Florida, with colleagues, classmates and mentors sharing their shock and grief.
Celeste Springer, a colleague of Lyons, bravely spoke on air just hours after the tragedy and said: “This is extremely devastating for all of us. 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.”