A series of shootings in Pine Hills, Florida Wednesday took the lives of a 9-year-old girl, an Orlando journalist, and a 20-year-old woman. Also injured were the girl’s mother and a second journalist.
Police have apprehended the suspect, 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses; he has been taken into custody and is expected to face murder charges.
This is 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, the suspect in a series of shootings today that left three dead, in OCSO custody. This is a sad day for our community. Three were murdered today, including a woman in her 20s, a 9-year-old girl and a @MyNews13 employee. pic.twitter.com/DXXkxzRHl5
— Orange County Sheriff’s Office (@OrangeCoSheriff) February 23, 2023
Here’s what we know, courtesy of Fox 11:
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said a 20-year-old woman was shot and killed early Wednesday. Hours later, a Spectrum 13 News crew who was covering that initial shooting was shot inside their vehicle, and a mother and her daughter were shot nearby inside their home. The names of those killed and injured have not been released.
Moses is the suspect in all the shootings, although a motive has not been established. The suspect has a “lengthy criminal history” and was allegedly an acquaintance of one of the women in the house. Orange County Sheriff John Mina said in a press conference that so far, the suspect is remaining tight-lipped:
“The suspect is not saying much right now,” Sheriff Mina said. “It’s hard to know if he was targeting this news crew. Again, that will all be a part of our investigation. I was out at the scene and the vehicle doesn’t really look like a news vehicle to me, but then again, there was a photographer there so that’s possible.”
The news crew does not appear to have been specifically targeted by the shooter. The crew was preparing for live reports concerning the initial homicide when Moses returned to the scene of the crime at around 4 p.m. “He returns to the scene. He goes to the vehicle where the news media people are at, he shoots both the people from News 13,” the sheriff said.
He was located soon after and detained with a handgun in his possession. Mina:
“A very good description was given out, deputies located him in the exact same clothes that he was wearing during the shootings and once they did detain him, homicide detectives who were familiar with him from the previous cases said, ‘Yeah, that’s our same guy from the earlier homicide.’”
As always seem to be the case in tragedies like this, Moses has had numerous run-ins with the law. The sheriff elaborated:
At 19, he has a lengthy criminal history to include gun charges, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and grand theft charges.
Florida Senator Rick Scott sent his prayers for the victims:
This is absolutely horrible. My team and I are closely monitoring the situation and keeping these Floridians and their families in our prayers. https://t.co/4gKw2D64S9
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) February 23, 2023
Spectrum News also expressed their horror and sadness for their fallen colleague:
Following the shooting death of a member of our Spectrum News 13 crew, our parent company, Charter Communications, has released a statement. pic.twitter.com/oiL4nqLT3E
— Spectrum News 13 (@MyNews13) February 23, 2023
Here is Sheriff Mina’s full news conference. We will provide more information as it comes in on this sad event.
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