‘Multiple people’ shot near earlier homicide scene in Pine Hills, deputies say
Pine Hills #PineHills
An Orlando TV journalist and a child were shot and killed on Wednesday evening at a crime scene where a woman was found shot to death earlier in the day, authorities said.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said at a news conference that the journalist for Spectrum News 13 and the 9-year-old girl were among four people who were shot. The others were another member of the News 13 crew and the mother of the girl.
Mina said a suspect, Keith Melvin Moses, 19, was in custody — and he was also suspected in the earlier shooting of the woman.
The other Spectrum News 13 journalist shot was listed in critical condition according to Mina. The journalists were working on a story about the previous shooting in the Pine Hills neighborhood.
According to WFTV-Channel 9, which also had journalists at the scene who were not injured, the shooter walked up to the News 13 vehicle and opened fire.
“The man walked by our crew who was working in their car. Our crew ducked,” WFTV’s Nick Papantonis tweeted. “The man then walked up to the other crew working in their car and opened fire.”
The Channel 9 reporters rendered aid as first responders were called. Multiple ambulances reportedly left the scene and took the victims to Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Mina said the suspect walked up to the News 13 vehicle around 4:05 p.m. and fired into it, hitting the photographer and reporter. Both were taken to the hospital where one was pronounced dead.
Moses then went to a house on Harrington Street nearby and shot a woman and her 9-year-old daughter, according to Mina. It’s not clear why he targeted any of the victims. Deputies arrested Moses nearby not long after, Mina said. He had a handgun that detectives believe was used in the shooting.
Mina said the vehicle did not look like a typical news van with the markings of the TV station on it. It’s also not clear why he targeted the woman and her daughter.
“I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for community and our media partners,” Mina said.
Earlier in the day, deputies found a woman in her 20s shot in a vehicle around 11:17 a.m. in the 6100 block of Hialeah Street. She was pronounced dead on scene.
Moses and the woman were acquaintances, Mina said.
Mina said Moses is currently charged with murder in the shooting of the woman and is expected to face additional charges.
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal history report listed more than a dozen arrests for Moses dating back to January 2018, when he was arrested on motor vehicle theft and domestic violence battery charges as a juvenile. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to a year of supervision.
Later arrests included charges of obstructing law enforcement, resisting arrest, burglary, failure to appear in court, grand theft and repeated probation violations, records show. Many of the arrests came when Moses was a minor and arrest reports were not available Wednesday night.
Court records show his most recent Orange County arrest occurred in Nov. 21, 2021, when he and two other young men were seen smoking suspected marijuana in a car near Balboa and Hernandez drives in Pine Hills. As deputies approached the vehicle, someone tossed a firearm from the passenger side, an arrest report said.
Moses, who was on felony probation from a juvenile case at the time, was arrested on charges of possessing cannabis and drug paraphernalia. The case was dropped the following month, with an assistant state attorney writing it was “not suitable for prosecution.”
Anyone with information on the shootings is asked to call Crimeline at 407-423-8477.
This is a breaking news story. Check back later for updates.
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