Florida journalist Dylan Lyons’ colleagues break down in tears on air reporting on his death

The heartbroken colleagues of the Florida journalist shot and killed while covering a murder broke down in tears while reporting on his death last night.

Spectrum 13 News reporter Dylan Lyons was shot in his car without identification around 4:05 pm yesterday.

He was on the scene in Pine Hills, near Orlando, to report on the murder of Nathacha Augustin, a 38-year-old woman who was killed in her home around 11 a.m.

The suspected gunman, Keith Melvin Moses, had not yet been arrested and had returned to the scene of the murder.

After shooting Lyons and his cameraman Jesse Walden, he entered a nearby home where he killed 9-year-old T’Yonna Major and wounded her mother, according to police.

I did not know that girl, her mother or any of the journalists. Lyons, a 24-year-old reporter who was to be married, died of his injuries. Walden remains in the hospital in critical condition.

Last night, WESH 2 News reporter Luana Munoz wept on air while reporting from the hospital where Lyons was confirmed dead.

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‘I apologize. This is really hard to cover. It’s very emotional here…

There are people here who knew that this reporter, his fiancée, and I were hugging.

‘This is every reporter’s worst nightmare. We go home at night afraid of something like this happening. One of ours just stopped by. I’m going to send it to you so he can pull me together.’

Lyons’ colleagues at Spectrum News 13 also paid tribute to him on the air.

“He took his job very seriously, he loved his career, he loved what he did.

“He loved the community, he told people’s stories, he reported the news. She was just passionate about what she did.

‘When I was outside the news station, I was still talking about how much I wanted to be successful. Very close to his mom too,” said colleague and friend Josh Miller.

Presenter Ybeth Bruzual said: ‘This is a profound loss on so many levels because it is impacting us on our doorstep, but there is a child who is dead, a mother who is injured, another co-worker who is hospitalised.

“So bear with us as we also try to process the fact that our coworker won’t be coming to join us here. It is gone.

His family is trying to figure things out. Dylan was so special. He died while he was doing what he loved most: doing his job.

Julia Gargotta added: ‘Of course, for us we’ve been talking about this non-stop, up all night. We sit here in unity and in mourning thinking about our colleague who lost his life, he is now being identified as Dylan Lyons.

Lyons’ heartbroken fiancée took to social media last night to share her grief.

‘The love of my life was murdered. I will never be the same again,” she said while sharing a link to a GoFundMe Page dedicated to cover the expenses of his funeral.

Other tributes came from politicians in Florida and the White House.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted: “Our hearts go out to the family of the journalist killed today and the injured crew member in Orange County, Florida, as well as the entire Spectrum News team.”

Governor Rick Scott tweeted: ‘This is absolutely horrible.

“My team and I are closely monitoring the situation and keep these Floridians and their families in our prayers.”

Police say Moses had no connection to either the reporters or the nine-year-old girl. It is also suspected that he was involved in the first murder that Lyons and his colleague were reporting when they were hit, and it is believed that he knew that woman although she has not yet been named.

In 2021, Moses was arrested for marijuana possession after police found him in a car with two other youths. As they approached the vehicle, one of them threw a gun out of the window.

Moses had 4.6 grams of cannabis in his pocket and was on misdemeanor probation at the time.

The men also had ski masks in their car and all previous arrests for weapons offenses and robbery.

But due to the small amount of marijuana Moses was carrying at the time, he never received a prison sentence and would have only been granted probation at most. It is not clear if the police officers charged any of the youths with possession of the weapon, which was stolen.

Moses’ previous crimes occurred before he turned 18, which the state’s attorney’s office says precludes them from discussing them.

The State Attorney’s Office declined to discuss them on Thursday morning when contacted by DailyMail.com.

In a statement last night, State’s Attorney Monique H. Worrell said: “Our deepest condolences to the families of those whose lives were lost…due to the pending criminal charges in this matter, we are unable to comment further on the details of this. case, as it is now an open and ongoing investigation.