A TV reporter and a nine-year-old girl were fatally shot near Orlando, Florida, close to the scene of an earlier murder.
According to police, the same gunman who is also suspected of the other homicide shot and injured a second reporter and the girl’s mother.
According to police, the two Spectrum News 13 journalists were covering the murder of a woman in the area that morning when the teenage suspect returned.
It’s unclear if they were specifically targeted.
According to investigators, the suspect was armed when he was apprehended and was not cooperating with police.
None of the three people killed in the two attacks on Wednesday in Pine Hills, a suburb west of Orlando, have been identified.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina stated at a press conference that the journalists were “in or near their vehicle,” which did not appear to be a TV station’s official vehicle when they were attacked around 16:00 local time (22:00 GMT).
He claimed the journalists were covering a shooting earlier in the day at around 11:00 a.m. local time, in which a woman in her twenties was fatally shot inside a car when the suspect returned to the scene and opened fire.
The alleged gunman, Keith Moses, 19, went into a nearby home and shot the girl and her mother, according to the sheriff.
He went on to say that the mother was in critical condition in the hospital.
According to local reporters, other journalists nearby assisted in providing first aid to the victims.
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After the death of their reporter was announced, Spectrum 13 continued to provide live coverage.
The injured journalist had “been able to speak with investigators and colleagues,” according to Greg Angel, a news presenter for the station.
The suspect “has a lengthy criminal history, including gun charges, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and grand theft charges,” according to Mr. Mina.
He described him as an “acquaintance” of the woman shot in the morning, “but as far as we know, he had no connection to the reporters and no connection to the mother and the nine-year-old”.
Asked about the possibility that the gunman purposefully targeted the reporters, Mr. Mina said “it’s something we’ll be taking a look at”.
He also stated that it was possible that the suspect mistook the journalists for the police.
A WESH 2 reporter reported that she and her camera operator had left the crime scene just moments before the shooting.
Senait Gebregiorgis said, “We got a gut feeling” and decided to leave for their own safety.
Charter Communications, the company that owns the TV station, released a statement calling the attack “a terrible tragedy for the Orlando community”.
“We are deeply saddened by our colleague’s death and the other lives senselessly taken today,” the company said.
“Our hearts go out to the family of the journalist killed today and the crew member injured in Orange County, Florida, as well as the entire Spectrum News team,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, there will be 40 journalists killed in 2022. Only one of those killed was a US citizen.
