Florida suspect charged in deaths of 3, including 9-year-old and reporter
ORLANDO, Fla. — A newly released affidavit in the case against Keith Moses, the alleged killer of three people in Pine Hills last week, offers a timeline of the Feb. 22 shootings, which happened within feet of each other over several hours.
Released Tuesday, the affidavit filed in court late Monday adds new charges against Moses, 19, accused of killing 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin, 9-year-old T’Yonna Major and Dylan Lyons, a 24-year-old reporter for Spectrum News 13. Moses is also charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder and armed burglary, records show.
“Many of you in the news media and of course T’Yonna’s family wanted justice for their friends and family,” Sheriff John Mina said Tuesday. “ ... Our victim advocates have been working with all of the affected victims and families just to give them everything they need.”
According to the affidavit, the first 911 call came in at 11:13 a.m., after Augustin was shot in a car driven by Moses’ cousin, whose name was redacted. Court records indicate he told detectives he was driving around with Augustin, a friend, when they picked up Moses, who he said was “acting strange and was sweating.”
About 30 seconds later, Moses, who was sitting behind the victim, fired once and fled the scene on foot after the cousin stopped in front of a home on Hialeah Street, the affidavit said. At 11:29 a.m., Augustin was pronounced dead.
Investigators working the scene cleared out by 3:28 p.m., records show.
By 3:49 p.m., surveillance video allegedly showed Moses sneaking through the back door of a house on Harrington Drive, around the corner from the scene of Augustin’s killing. It was there he shot T’Yonna and her mother, who survived her injuries and whose name was redacted in the affidavit.
Moments later, Lyons and News 13 cameraman Jesse Walden pulled in near the corner of Harrington and Hialeah. Moses left the house and, less than five minutes after the journalists arrived, they were shot at repeatedly.
Lyons, who was inside the news vehicle before he was shot, was pronounced dead at 4:46 p.m., while Walden survived, the law enforcement timeline said. T’Yonna, the 9-year-old, died around 6 p.m.
The motive for the shootings is unknown. Records show Moses, who as of Tuesday is being held in a mental health unit at the Orange County Jail, didn’t speak to investigators, who described him as having his eyes closed during questioning before trying to escape more than once.
Hours after the shooting, Mina told reporters he did not know if the journalists, who arrived at the scene of the first shooting in an unmarked car, were specifically targeted.
Asked by News 13 reporter Asher Wildman why a description of Moses wasn’t released as deputies looked for him, Mina responded that was still in the works at the time.
In response to the shootings, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings on Thursday announced he will relaunch the Citizens Safety Task Force. The announcement came nearly three years after it was first convened following a spate of violence that claimed the life of a 3-year-old, among others.
Vigils honoring the victims were held the following day throughout Orlando. A makeshift memorial was created for Lyons at the University of Central Florida, his alma mater, while the community paid respects to T’Yonna and Augustin at ICP Orlando in the city’s west side.
GoFundMe campaigns in memory of Lyons, T’Yonna and Augustin garnered tens of thousands of dollars in the days since the shootings.
T’Yonna, a student at Pine Hills Elementary, was remembered as “a light to everyone who knew her,” and a talented gymnast dubbed by teachers as “the next Gabby Douglas,” an Olympic gold medalist.
Augustin, whose family is raising money for funeral expenses and mental health services, was described as “full of life with a smile that lit up a room and an infectious laugh.”
“She wanted to see everyone win in life and supported them how she could,” Rose Wright, her sister, wrote in the GoFundMe campaign. “We miss her so much and we will have her in our hearts forever.”
