A television journalist and a nine-year-old girl were fatally shot near Orlando, Florida, not far from the scene of the murder, which happened a few hours earlier.
A second reporter and the girl’s mother were shot and wounded by the same gunman, who is also suspected in another murder, police said.
Two Spectrum News 13 reporters were covering the homicide of a woman in the area that morning when the teenage suspect returned, police said.
It is not known if they were targeted.
The suspect was armed when he was apprehended and was uncooperative with police, investigators said.
None of the three people killed Wednesday in two terrorist attacks in Pine Hills, a suburb west of Orlando, has yet to be identified.
During a press conference, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said the reporters were “in or near their vehicle,” which he said did not appear to be a television station company vehicle, when they were attacked around 4:00 p.m. local time. (22:00). GMT).
He said reporters were reporting on a shooting the same day around 11 a.m. local time, in which a woman in her 20s was fatally shot in a car when the suspect returned to the scene and opened fire.
After attacking the reporters, the alleged gunman — 19-year-old Keith Moses — went into a nearby home and shot the girl and her mother, the sheriff said.
The mother was in hospital in serious condition, he added.
Other journalists who were nearby helped provide first aid to the victims, local journalists reported.
Spectrum 13 went live after announcing the death of their reporter.
Greg Angel, a news anchor at the station, said the injured journalist “was able to speak with investigators and colleagues.”
The suspect, Mina said, “has an extensive criminal history, including weapons charges, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and grand larceny.”
He described him as an “acquaintance” of the woman who was shot that morning, “but as far as we know he had no relationship with the reporters and the mother and the nine-year-old child.”
When asked about the possibility that the shooter was deliberately targeting journalists, Mr. Mina said “that is something we will look into.”
He added that it is also possible that the suspect mistook the journalists for the police.
A reporter for Orlando TV station WESH 2 said she and her cameraman left the crime scene just minutes before the shooting.
“We had a gut feeling” and decided to leave for our own safety, Senait Gebregiorgis said.
Charter Communications, which owns the television station, released a statement calling the attack “a terrible tragedy for the Orlando community.”
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today,” the company said.
White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre tweeted her condolences, saying, “Our hearts go out to the family of the journalist who died today and the injured crew member in Orange County, Florida, and to the entire Spectrum News team.”
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 40 journalists were killed in 2022. Only one of the dead was in the United States.
