PINE HILLS, Fla. — Three people, including a journalist and child, died following a series of shootings Wednesday, one of which occurred near where a homicide investigation was ongoing in an Orlando suburb, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said.
A 19-year-old, identified as Keith Moses, was taken into custody, according to the sheriff.
During an evening news conference, Mina said a Spectrum News 13 crew was at the scene of the earlier crime on Hialeah Street when a gunman pulled up and opened fire. The news crew, said to be a reporter and photographer, was covering a story involving a woman who died earlier in the day.
Deputies arrived to find both journalists shot, Mina said. They were transported to nearby hospitals where one of the news employees died from their injuries.
On Thursday morning, Spectrum News 13 said 24-year-old reporter Dylan Lyons died after being shot.
"He took his job very seriously. He loved his career. He loved what he did,” Spectrum Sports 360 reporter and friend, Josh Miller, told the Central Florida news outlet. “He loved the community, telling the stories of people, reporting on the news, and he was just passionate about what he did."
The news outlet also identified the photographer critically injured in the shooting as Jesse Walden.
A block away on Harrington Street, deputies also found another woman and her 9-year-old daughter struck by gunfire inside a home. The 9-year-old was later pronounced dead at the hospital, Mina said during the news conference.
The sheriff's office has identified the 9-year-old as T'yonna Major. Her mother was also shot and is critically injured at the hospital.
Spectrum News 13 reports both shootings happened just after 4 p.m.
In an update on social media, the sheriff's office said a woman in her 20s had also died, bringing the number of people killed in the shooting to three. The sheriff's office identified her as 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin. She was shot and killed around 11 a.m. Wednesday.
"Three people murdered by the acts of one criminal," Mina said in a statement. "We are grieving with our media partners at News13 - and with our whole community tonight."
Moses was detained in connection to the shootings, Mina said. The sheriff's office believes he is responsible for the shootings on Hialeah and Harrington streets. Moses was formally charged in Augustin's murder that happened Wednesday morning and authorities expect additional charges for the evening shooting.
"I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for our community and our media partners," Mina said. "I work closely with all of you and know many of you and know the very difficult job that you do and also the very important job that you do for our community and for law enforcement.
"No one in our community — not a mother, not a 9-year-old, certainly not news professionals — should become the victim of gun violence in our community."
Mina described the condition of the second journalist and mother who were hurt in the shootings as "critical."
The motives in each of the shootings that took place Wednesday are unclear at this time. Mina said deputies are canvassing the area, searching for surveillance footage from doorbell cameras nearby and conducting interviews to help piece the investigations together.