Police: Florida shootings leave 9-year-old, journalist dead

(NewsNation) — A string of shootings Wednesday in a Florida neighborhood left a 9-year-old child, a 20-year-old woman and a media member all dead.

The first shooting occurred around 11 a.m. in the Orlando-area neighborhood of Pine Hills, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said at a news conference. A woman in her 20s was pronounced dead on the scene.

The second shooting happened around 4 p.m. when two employees of Spectrum News 13.

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.

In the third shooting, a woman and her 9-year-old child were shot inside their home on another street about a block away in the same neighborhood, Mina said. The child died at a hospital.

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 didn’t appear to be gang-related. It was not clear if Moses knew that two of the victims were journalists and Mina noted that their vehicle didn’t look like a typical news van or feature the station’s logo.

The sheriff said when deputies arrested Moses they seized a Glock semiautomatic weapon that “was still hot to the touch, meaning it had just been fired, and there were no more rounds.”

Body camera footage released by the sheriff’s office shows Moses apparently resisting arrest. After deputies take him to the ground, Moses repeatedly yells that he can’t breathe and that deputies are killing him, according to the video. Moses complained he was hurt and was taken to a hospital where he attacked medical staff, Mina said. He has since refused to speak with detectives.

The suspect in all three shootings is 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, who has been arrested. The woman who died in the first shooting was a known acquaintance of Moses, Mina said.

Moses faces charges in the morning killing, and more are expected for the other shootings.

“No one in our community — not a 9-year-old child or a media professional — should become of victim of gun violence,” Mina said.

It’s unclear why the news crew was fired at. Mina said the vehicle they were in did not have clear logos or decals identifying it as a news vehicle.

Police also said it’s not known why the woman and her child who were shot in their home were targeted.

In a statement, News 13’s parent company, Charter Communications, said “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,” the statement said. “This is a terrible tragedy for the Orlando community.”

Rachel Lyons, the reporter’s older sister, is raising money for his funeral via GoFundMe. She wrote that Lyons would have turned 25 in March. He is also survived by his parents and fiancée.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.