Everything we know about the Florida shooting that left journalist and nine-year-old girl dead

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A 19-year-old gunman has been charged with first-degree murder in Orlando, Florida, after a shooting spree on Wednesday afternoon in which a TV journalist and a nine-year-old girl were killed following the earlier murder of a woman in the same location.

Tributes have since been paid to the reporter and a colleague who sustained critical injuries in the incident, as the city reels from another shocking explosion of gun violence.

Here is everything we know so far about the tragedy.

What happened?

Around 11am on Wednesday morning, a woman in her 30s 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.

The suspect

Police quickly apprehended a suspect they named as Keith Melvin Moses, also picking up a handgun they believed to have been used in the killings.

At a press conference on Wednesday evening, Orange County sheriff John Mina said that Mr Moses has already been charged with first-degree murder for the initial victim and that charges are expected soon for the other four victims.

He also revealed that Mr Moses had a “lengthy” criminal history, listing gun charges, aggravated battery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and grand theft charges as being on his record.

“The suspect is not saying much right now,” Sheriff Mina said of the attack on the Spectrum team.

“It is unclear if he knew they were news media or not. 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.”

He added: “I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for our community and our media partners.”

“I work closely with all of you... no one in our community – not a mother, not a nine-year-old, certainly not news professionals – should become the victim of gun violence.”

Mr Moses “was an acquaintance of the woman this morning, but as far as we know, had no connection to the reporters and no connection to the mother and the nine-year-old”, Sheriff Mina said.

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.

The first victim has since been identified as Nathacha Augustin, 38, while the mother and daughter have been named as Brandi and T’yonna Major, the child described by her great-aunt Phylis Turner as “extremely smart”, an “amazing gymnast” with Olympics aspirations and the “apple of her parents’ eye”.

Brandi Major was reportedly released from hospital late on Wednesday after being treated for a bullet wound to her arm but is said to be “devastated” by the loss of her daughter.

“We don’t know why he entered their home,” Sheriff Mina said of the gunman’s actions.

What has been the response?

Celeste Springer, a Spectrum News 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.”

Another local journalist, the Emmy award-winning Luana Munoz of WESH News, was likewise emotional when she reported in the tragedy late on Wednesday, saying in a shaky voice: “This is really difficult to cover. It is very emotional here at ORMC [Orlando Regional Medical Center].”

Spectrum News itself issued a statement that read: “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.

“This is a terrible tragedy for the Orlando community.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted her condolences to the families of the victims, saying: “Our hearts go out to the family of the journalist killed today and the crew member injured in Orange County, Florida, as well as the whole Spectrum News 13 team.”

Gun safety campaigner Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the Parkland school massacre in the same state in 2018, also took to Twitter to say: “I am speechless. Reporters in Orlando, FL are shot while covering a shooting. One has died. Also happening in Florida today, the ongoing effort to pass permitless carry and ensuring that this will happen again.”