Florida police have released a new booking photo for the deranged teen gunman who killed three people, including a journalist, during what they say is a drug crime in which he appears insane with wide, wide-eyed.
Keith Melvin Moses, 19, is in jail for shooting Nathacha Augustin, 38, journalist Dylan Lyons, and nine-year-old T’Yonna Major last Wednesday in Pine Hills near Orlando.
Moses has refused to explain his rampage, which began with the shooting of Augustin at around 11 a.m. while they were in his cousin’s car.
It’s unclear if he was tested for drugs after the rampage, or what the results of those tests are, but after his arrest, police said he appeared to be “high.”
Keith Melvin Moses, 19, is in custody for the shooting death of Nathacha Augustin, 38, journalist Dylan Lyons, and nine-year-old T’Yonna Major last Wednesday. Police say he was high at the time of the murders and they have been unable to determine a motive for the murders.
In new records released today, his cousin described him as “strange” and “sweating” in the car before pulling out his gun and shooting Augustin in the chin.
Lyons, a 24-year-old reporter for Spectrum 13 News, went to the scene of the first murder to film a report.
That’s when Moses returned, shot him in the chest at point-blank range, and shot his cameraman, Jesse Walden, in the groin.
He then let himself into T’Yonna Major’s nearby home through a sliding door.
He shot T’Yonna twice in the stomach and also wounded her mother before fleeing the house.
The pair barricaded themselves in the bathroom of their home and waited for police. T’Yonna later died of her injuries.
The police found Moses on the street and took him into custody.
The 19-year-old was due to appear in court last week, but missed his first appearance. In court cases, his lawyer cited “mental health” as the reason for his absence.
Previously released bodycam footage showed him shouting “I can’t breathe!” when the police approached him.
Nathacha Augustin, 38, was the first victim. She was in a car with Moses’ cousin when they offered him a ride. He got into the backseat but, according to the cousin, started sweating and “acting strange.” He then shot Augustin in the chin and fled
Dylan Lyons, 24, was shot and killed yesterday while reporting a shooting in Pine Hills, Florida. He was only six months into his job at Spectrum News 13. T’Yonna Major, nine, was also killed by the gunman
Moses grinned and smiled as he was taken away in handcuffs after being arrested in connection with the three murders in Orlando, Florida
Once in custody, he pretended to be asleep and refused to answer questions from the officers.
The new documents show how he also tried to get out of the police interrogation room after the officers left him alone.
Moses, 19, has a long criminal record with felony charges, including possession of a firearm by a minor and robbery with a deadly weapon.
Almost all of them took place when he was a minor and he had served all relative custodial sentences for them.
The only charge on his record that occurred when he was an adult was possession of marijuana, but it was in such a low amount (4.6 grams) that it did not warrant jail time.
Now he faces life in prison – if not the death penalty – on multiple charges of first-degree murder.
It was Moses’ cousin who first called the police after he shot Augustin.
The cousin, who has not been named, was in a car with Augustin when they saw Moses walking down the street.
Jesse Walden is a photojournalist injured in a Florida shooting that killed his reporter colleague Dylan Lyons and a nine-year-old girl
Walden is expected to be released from the hospital in a day or two, but knows he has a long road of recovery ahead of him. He also faces the pain of losing his friend
The cousin offered him a ride, which he accepted, and he got into the backseat of the car.
“He stated that when Keith Moses was in the vehicle he was acting strange and sweating before the shooting.”
Walden, the cameraman and photographer who survived the shooting, told how he hid behind a wheel of the car while Moses opened fire.
He took items from the trunk of the car while Lyons was in the passenger seat.
Moses approached the car and shot Walden first.
Orange County Sheriff’s deputies reported to the 6100 block of Hialeah Street in Orlando around 11:17 a.m. where they discovered a woman fatally shot in the passenger seat of a car
He then walked to the front of the vehicle, where the driver’s door was open, and fired into the car to shoot Lyons once in the chest.
“As I’m about to open my trunk, I hear gunshots and feel myself being hit. I feel some pain in my groin.
“I think whoever this guy is, there’s something wrong with him, but he was shooting at people parked there.
“Dylan was a reporter I worked with every day. We were best friends. He was just a sweet boy, he was young.
“He did a really good job, he liked to try hard and that’s what we like to do, we like to push the boundaries and we like to get our hands dirty,” he said.
“It’s so unfair that Dylan happened, that he died,” he said.
