Dylan Lyons

Dylan Lyons, a 24-year-old White man, was a dedicated and talented television reporter for Spectrum News 13 in Orlando, Florida. Born in Pennsylvania, Lyons moved to Florida and graduated from the University of Central Florida with degrees in journalism and political science. He began his career at an ABC affiliate in Gainesville, where he earned awards from the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists, before joining the Spectrum News 13 team in July 2022. Friends and colleagues remembered him as a motivated professional who was passionate about his work. "He loved the community, telling the stories of people, reporting on the news, and he was just passionate about what he did," a friend and fellow reporter recalled. Lyons was survived by his parents, two sisters, and his fiancée, Casey Fite.

On February 22, 2023, Lyons and his photojournalist, Jesse Walden, were in the Pine Hills neighborhood of Orange County covering a homicide. Earlier that morning, a 38-year-old woman named Nathacha Augustin had been fatally shot. As Lyons and Walden reported from the scene that afternoon, the suspect in Augustin's killing returned. The man, identified as 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, approached the news crew and opened fire. Lyons was killed, and Walden was critically injured but survived his wounds.

Immediately after shooting the two journalists, Moses walked to a nearby home and went inside, where he shot 9-year-old T'yonna Major and her mother, Brandi Major. T'yonna died from her injuries, while her mother was critically wounded but survived. Orange County Sheriff's deputies arrested Moses later that day. Authorities stated that Moses was an acquaintance of the first victim, Nathacha Augustin, but they did not believe he had any connection to the journalists or the Major family.

Keith Melvin Moses was taken into custody and subsequently charged in the shooting spree. A grand jury indicted him on multiple charges, including three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Nathacha Augustin, Dylan Lyons, and T'yonna Major. Moses entered a plea of not guilty to the charges. As of early 2024, the case was still in the pretrial phase, with reports that the trial could be delayed as the defense pursues an intellectual disability claim.

The killing of a journalist on the job drew widespread condemnation, and Lyons was remembered as a rising star whose life was cut short. His family established a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses, and his death was mourned by colleagues, community members, and journalism organizations across the country. His fiancée, Casey Fite, later shared that they had been planning their future and that she hoped to carry on his legacy by having their biological child through IVF, using sperm retrieved after his death.