A TV news reporter, a 9-year-old girl, and a woman in her 20s were fatally shoot, and two others critically injured, in a series of shootings Wednesday in Pine Hills, near Orlando, Florida.
Authorities initially responded around 11:20 a.m. to reports of a woman in her 20s being shot while sitting in a car, Fox 35 Orlando reported.
The gunman returned to the scene five hours later and opened fire on a Spectrum News 13 crew while they reported on the initial homicide, according to Orange County Sheriff John Mina.
Spectrum identified the deceased reporter as 24-year-old Dylan Lyons. Photojournalist Jesse Walden was critically injured, the station said.
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The mother of the little girl also suffered critical injuries.
During a news conference, Sheriff Mina told reporters the two journalists were shot inside their vehicle, which did not contain station markings.
“It is unclear if [the suspect] knew if they were news media or not,” Mina said. “We’re still trying to work all of that out. That vehicle was almost exactly in the same spot as the vehicle from the homicide this morning. So it’s unclear why exactly they were targeted.”
After opening fire on the news crew, authorities said the gunman went to a nearby home and shot the girl and her mother. Both shootings were reported a little after 4:00 p.m.
Authorities later arrested 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses in connection with the shootings. Moses was charged with one count of murder in connection with the shooting from the morning. Additional charges are expected for the other shootings that took place later in the day.
Mina confirmed that Moses was an acquaintance of the woman from the morning homicide, but believed he had no connection to the journalists or to the other victims.
Charter Communications, parent company of Spectrum News 13, released a statement in response to the violence.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today,” the statement said. “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.”
