3 SLAYNGS IN 5 HOURS
Suspect returned to kill again: sheriff
A Florida journalist and a 9-yearold girl were shot dead Wednesday by a suspect wanted in an earlier fatal shooting at the same scene, authorities said.
Two others were also wounded, including a second Spectrum News 13 journalist, in the 4 p.m. gunfire in Pine Hills, according to Orange County Sheriff John Mina.
The horror began around 11 a.m. when the suspected gunman, 19year-old Keith Melvin Moses, allegedly fatally shot a 20-year-old woman sitting in a car on the street, Mina said.
Moses allegedly returned to the scene five hours later and fired rounds at a News 13 crew reporting on the initial homicide. Both a News 13 reporter and photographer near their news van were shot.
The 24-year-old reporter, identified by family as Dylan Lyons, died. The photographer is in critical condition, Mina said.
“The love of my life was murdered. I will never be the same person ever again,” Lyons’ heartbroken fiancée wrote on Twitter.
Shortly after Lyons was killed, Moses allegedly stormed into a house where he shot a 9-year-old girl and her mother. The child died while her mother was fighting for her life, the sheriff said.
Officers arrested Moses after the later shootings and confirmed he was also a suspect in the slaying of the 20-year-old woman. He was charged with one count of murder in the morning killing and was expected to face further charges in the second and third shootings, Mina said.
He was armed with a handgun — which officers believe is the murder weapon — when apprehended by police.
“At 19, he had a lengthy criminal history . . . gun charges, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and grand theft charges,” Mina said of the suspect.
Mina said the first victim was believed to be an acquaintance of Moses, but there was no immediately known connection between the suspect and the later targets. Deputies are investigating a motive.
The sheriff also said it’s unclear if Moses specifically targeted the News 13 team because they were journalists. He added that the team’s van was not clearly distinguishable as a news van, but said photography equipment was visible.
“No one in our community — not a mother, not a 9-year-old, certainly not news professionals, should become the victim of gun violence,” Mina said.
Homicide detectives and other law-enforcement officers had cleared the scene of the initial morning murder by the time of the afternoon shootings.