Dylan Lyons was fatally shot in Pine Hills on Wednesday after the suspect in a deadly shooting that had taken place earlier that morning returned to the crime scene. A nine-year-old girl was also killed after the suspect entered a nearby home following the attack.
A Florida journalist who was fatally shot on the job Wednesday after the suspect of an earlier shooting returned to the scene of the crime has been identified as Dylan Lyons, a reporter with Spectrum News 13.
“Following the shooting death of one of our colleagues and the wounding of another, Spectrum News 13 has now identified the reporter who lost his life as Dylan Lyons,” the outlet, based in Orlando, said Thursday morning.
Lyons was 24, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family. He had joined Spectrum News 13 as a multimedia journalist in July 2022, according to a bio on the news outlet’s website.
The outlet also identified a photographer critically injured in the shooting as Jesse Walden.
Lyons and Walden had been in Pine Hills, just outside Orlando, at around 4 p.m. to cover the slaying of a woman in her 20s who had been found shot earlier that morning, Sheriff John Mina said on Wednesday.
Keith Melvin Moses, 19, the suspect in the woman’s killing, returned to the scene and opened fire on Lyons and a photographer while the two were in or near a vehicle, Mina said. The sheriff said one of the victims had died, but he did not identify Lyons at the time.
Walden was still in critical condition as of Wednesday night. Greg Angel, a news anchor for Spectrum News 13, said in a Twitter post that evening that the “second colleague injured in the shooting” had been “able to speak with investigators and colleagues” while receiving treatment.
“Great sign. But lots of procedures and healing to come,” he said. Walden’s condition was not immediately clear as of Thursday morning.
Following the attack, Moses walked into a nearby home and shot a woman her 9-year-old daughter, the sheriff said. The girl, who has yet to be identified, died of her injuries. The mother was in critical condition as of Wednesday night. Her condition was not immediately clear Thursday morning.
The suspect was arrested in the area and was charged in the initial slaying, Mina said. He said Moses would be charged in the four other shootings later.
Mina said it was unclear whether Moses knew if Lyons and the photographer “were news media or not.”
“The suspect is not saying much right now,” he said.
Moses, “as far as we know, had no connection to the reporters and no connection to the mother and the 9-year-old,” Mina said. “We don’t know why he entered that home.”
The woman who had been killed earlier was an acquaintance of the suspect, the sheriff said.
The initial slaying had taken place inside a vehicle, Mina said, and detectives had identified Moses as a suspect and were following leads when the other shootings unfolded.
“Once they did detain him, homicide detectives who were familiar with him from the previous case said, ‘Yeah, that’s our same guy from the earlier homicide,’” Mina said.
It was not immediately clear whether Moses had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
In an earlier statement Wednesday, Spectrum News called the violence a tragedy.
“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,” it said.
In a gut-wrenching Twitter post, Casey Lynn, a woman identifying herself as Lyons’ fiancée, wrote: “The love of my life was murdered.”
“I will never be the same person ever again,” she said, sharing a GoFundMe page set up by Lyons’ family to help cover the costs of his funeral.
On his own Twitter account, Lyons had previously linked to Casey Lynn’s account with a series of heart emojis.
In the GoFundMe set up by Lyons’ loved ones, the organizer, who identifies herself as his older sister, Rachel Lyons, says the journalist 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,” the Rachel Lyons wrote.
“Dylan would have been 25 years old in March,” she said. “He was a happy soul and wonderful person in life. My brother was our baby. He was taken too early from us.”
“Born and raised in Philadelphia, Dylan’s journey to journalism was fueled by his desire to tell stories that impact local communities,” Lyons’ Spectrum News 13 bio says.
The journalist was a “proud University of Central Florida graduate with a degree in Journalism and Political Science,” it says, adding that during his time at UCF, Lyons had reported and anchored for the UCF Knightly News, a student-run news station.
Before joining the Spectrum News 13 team, Lyons had reported and anchored for WCJB TV20, a local ABC affiliate in Gainesville, the bio said, adding that he was awarded the best “Politics/Elections Series” by the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists and was a finalist for Investigative Reporting in 2021.
Tributes for Lyons have poured in in the wake of his death.
“If you knew Dylan, you knew he embodied journalism. Integrity. Passion. Ethics. Speed. He meant so much to so many people,” Megan Turner wrote in a tweet, sharing the GoFundMe page set up by Lyons’ family.
“I was his editor at UCF. He inspired me & always rooted for those around him — pray for his loved ones & colleagues,” Turner wrote.
“Absolutely horrible. My heart goes out to @MyNews13, friends and family of journalist Dylan Lyons, and the family and friends of the 9-year-old little girl,” Chandler Watkins wrote.
Many also shared messages of condolences with Lyons’ fiancée, with Turner writing: “We’re here for you” in a Twitter post.
“I’m so heartbroken for you and Dylan’s family,” Alexandra Leslie, another journalist, wrote. “Reporters in Rhode Island are thinking of Dylan tonight,” she said.