Dylan Lyons. Dylan Lyons. (GoFundMe.)
Local NetworksBy Andrew Bucholtz on

There’s often a lot written on the dangers of reporting on foreign wars, but there are also times where journalists are injured or slain on the job much closer to home. The latest example of that comes from Orlando, where Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons was killed and photojournalist Jesse Walden was critically injured in a shooting Wednesday afternoon. That shooting came while Lyons and Walden were reporting on the earlier shooting of a 38-year-old woman.

A nine-year-old girl was also killed in a separate shooting Wednesday afternoon, with that shooting believed to be linked to the others. 19-year-old suspect Keith Melvin Moses has been detained by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office:

https://twitter.com/OrangeCoSheriff/status/1628577832426258439?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1628577832426258439%7Ctwgr%5Eadbe26d2ae22f93f8843401e5401de5ecbe89689%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mynews13.com%2Ffl%2Forlando%2Fnews%2F2023%2F02%2F22%2Fpolice–shots-fired-near-scene-of-pine-hills-murder-investigation

Lyons, 24, attended the University of Central Florida and graduated with a degree in journalism and political science. He worked as an TV anchor and reporter on the student station there from 2017-19, and also as a sports reporter and editor at the Knight News student newspaper in 2018 and 2019. He also interned in news at 90.7 WFME, WFTV 9 (ABC), and WKMG 6 (CBS) during his college days, and served as the president of the Orlando chapter of the Radio Television Digital News Association from August 2017 to April 2019. After graduation, he spent three years working at Gainesville ABC affiliate WCJB as a reporter and anchor, then joined Spectrum News 13 as a reporter last July.

Walden graduated from New Mexico State in 2016 with a degree in creative media (film/cinema/video studies). Since then, he worked at KRWG (PBS/NPR) in Las Cruces for five months, then at KOB (NBC) in Albuquerque for four years, then at KSTU (Fox) in Salt Lake City for a year and a half before joining Spectrum News 13 as a photojournalist last April.

The death of Lyons and the critical injury to Walden hit many in the journalism world hard. One example of that came from Luana Munoz, an anchor for NBC affiliate WESH-2, who broke down while covering the scene live:

There were also emotional moments in Spectrum News 13’s coverage of this Thursday morning:

Here are some of the many other tributes that have poured in for Lyons, and thoughts that have poured in for Walden:

It’s positive to hear that Walden is in good spirits. Our thoughts go out to him during his recovery, and to all of Lyons’ family and friends, and to all the journalists shaken up by this. And while the particular circumstances here were unique, the dangers for journalists are not new. As Jodie Ginsberg, president of the Committee To Protect Journalists, wrote, journalist killings rose 50 percent in 2022, and most of those deaths weren’t in war zones:

For those who would like to donate to Lyons’ funeral expenses, a GoFundMe is here, as his fiancée Casey Lynn relayed:

As of 1:30 p.m. Thursday, that fundraiser had raised more than $27,000, beyond its $25,000 goal.

[Spectrum News 13; photo from GoFundMe]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz