Gunman kills former WCJB reporter

A 9-year-old girl, a woman in her 30s, and a Spectrum News 13 TV reporter were killed Wednesday during a series of shootings in an Orlando suburb.

Reporter Dylan Lyons—formerly with WCJB TV20 in Gainesville—was with station photojournalist Jesse Walden covering an earlier murder in the neighborhood when the suspect in that killing shot them both.

The shooter then went to a nearby home where he fatally shot nine-year-old T’yonna Major and wounded her mother. Police have arrested Keith Melvin Moses, 19, and say he is responsible for all of the shootings.

Lyons, 24, worked as a reporter for the TV20 Morning Edition starting in 2019. He then started as the first anchor for TV20 News at 4 p.m. and TV20 News at 10 p.m. Lyons left TV20 in 2022 to join Spectrum News 13 in Orlando.

Police on Wednesday morning responded to the neighborhood northwest of Orlando after 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin was fatally shot. Officials say Moses knew Augustin but it is unclear if he knew the journalists or the mother and daughter he shot later in the day.

Moses has already been charged with first-degree murder in Augustin’s death and police say further charges are expected soon. His criminal history includes gun charges, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and grand theft charges.

This story originally appeared in WORLD. © 2023, reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

—With information from a WCJB article.