A journalist was shot and killed in Florida on Wednesday while covering a separate fatal shooting earlier that day.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said officers responded to reports of a homicide early Wednesday in Pine Hills, Florida, in which a woman in her 20s was killed. Two reporters from Florida’s Spectrum News 13 were on the scene later that afternoon to cover the shooting before authorities received a call about another shooting around 4:05 p.m.
Responding officers found the two journalists with gunshot injuries near their media van. A mother and her 9-year-old daughter were also found shot in a home nearby.
All were transported to area hospitals. The child and one of the journalists died.
A suspect, 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, was arrested nearby and is in custody. Orange County Sheriff John Mina said Moses would be charged with homicide for the killing that happened that morning, and that other charges were expected to come.
Mina said it was unclear why the journalists and other victims were targeted that afternoon. Moses was reportedly an acquaintance of the woman shot Wednesday morning. Mina added that Moses had a long criminal history, including weapons and assault charges.
“I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for the community and our media partners,” the sheriff said in a press conference.
Other reporters were on the scene at the time of the shooting. Nick Papantonis, a journalist with Florida’s WFTV, said the suspect walked up to the Spectrum News van before firing a weapon into it.
“The man walked by our crew who was working in their car. Our crew ducked,” Papantonis wrote on Twitter. “The man then walked up to the other crew working in their car and opened fire.”
