Reporter sent to homicide scene, then suspect kills him, Florida cops say. Family sues

A young journalist sent on assignment to the scene of a homicide was killed by the suspect he was reporting on, Florida authorities said.

The family of 24-year-old Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons is now suing Charter Communications, the parent company for his employer at the time of his death.

The lawsuit was filed Jan. 28 in Orange County, where suspect Keith Moses is facing prosecution for the deaths of Lyons, 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin and 9-year-old T’yonna Major.

Moses is also accused of shooting Spectrum employee Jesse Walden and Major’s mother.

“Dylan’s murder was an unforeseeable and horrible tragedy,” a spokesperson for Spectrum News said in an emailed statement to McClatchy News. “We hope that Keith Moses, who has been charged, will soon be brought to justice for the murder of Dylan and the others that day. With regards to these specific allegations, Dylan was the victim of a senseless act of violence. The claims against Spectrum News are unfounded and we will seek to have them dismissed.”

On Feb. 22, 2023, 19-year-old Moses got in a car with Augustin and another man in Orlando, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in an arrest affidavit. But about 30 seconds into the ride, Moses shot Augustin before getting out of the car and running away, deputies said.

Lyons was sent to the crime scene for a story on the incident, which his injured co-worker said was unusual.

“It really was just sort of crazy bad luck for us to even be on that story,” Walden said, according to the Las Cruces Bulletin. “On an average … workweek, I would say we were only covering crime like one or two days a week.”

The lawsuit says Moses “ambushed” Lyons and Walden, fatally shooting Lyons in the chest and leaving Walden with a critical injury.

Moses also went into a home and shot the 9-year-old girl and her mother, deputies said.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina told CNN that Moses had walked by another news crew at the scene, but it’s unclear why he shot at Spectrum’s team.

Lyons’ family said Spectrum sent their employees to the scene without any protective equipment or security and despite knowing the suspect was at large.

They said Lyons died because of his employer’s negligence, and there was were a virtual certainty of danger that was concealed from him.

The lawsuit says Spectrum owes it to employees “to conduct an appropriate risk assessment on potential news coverage assignments to ensure the safety and security of news reporters and staff before assigning coverage of active incidents.”

Lyons’ sister said her brother’s reporting role at Spectrum was his “dream job” and he died doing what he loved. The broadcast journalist was engaged and had recently graduated from the University of Central Florida, according to his obituary.

As Walden recovered in the hospital, he described his co-worker as “wholesome” with “a great sense of humor.”

“He took his job very seriously,” another Spectrum reporter and friend Josh Miller told the outlet. “He loved his career. He loved what he did. He loved the community, telling the stories of people, reporting on the news, and he was just passionate about what he did.”