Dylan Colby Lyons, a 24-year-old television news reporter for Spectrum News 13 in Orlando, Florida, was fatally shot on February 22, 2023. At the time of his death, Lyons was part of a news crew reporting from the scene of a homicide in a Pine Hills neighborhood in Orange County. The original homicide involved the fatal shooting of Nathacha Augustin earlier in the day.
The suspect in the prior shooting, 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, an Orlando native and acquaintance of Augustin, returned to the crime scene and opened fire on the news crew. Lyons and Spectrum News photographer Jesse Walden were shot; Lyons died, while Walden was critically injured but survived. Moses then proceeded to a nearby home, where he shot Brandi Major and her 9-year-old daughter, T'Yonna Major, resulting in T'Yonna's death and critical injuries to Brandi Major.
Keith Melvin Moses was arrested by the police on the day of the shooting in connection with the original homicide investigation. Additional charges were filed against him in the following days for the shooting of Lyons and Walden, as well as the shooting at the nearby home. By March 10, 2023, Moses was facing multiple charges, including three counts of first-degree murder, a capital offense. A grand jury later indicted him on 16 charges, including first-degree murder, on March 30, 2023.
Dylan Lyons was born on March 11, 1998, in Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania, and later moved to the Orlando area in 2016. He was a graduate of the University of Central Florida with degrees in journalism and political science. During his time at UCF, he reported and anchored for the UCF Knightly News. Before joining Spectrum News 13, he worked as a reporter and anchor for WCJB TV20, an ABC affiliate in Gainesville. Lyons was known for his passion for his job and his commitment to the community, and he had received several awards for his reporting, including an award from the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists.
Lyons is survived by his parents, Gary and Beth Lyons; his sisters, Nicole and Rachel Lyons; his fiancé, Casey Fite; and his niece and nephew, Aaliyah and Easton Lyons. His death was widely condemned, including by the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, who highlighted the importance of protecting journalists and media workers. A GoFundMe page was set up to cover the funeral expenses of Lyons and T'Yonna Major.
