Reporter grows emotional while covering death of colleague in Orlando
Reporter Luana Munoz grew emotional during a live shot at Orlando Regional Medical Center while covering a spate of shootings that claimed the life of reporter Dylan Lyons.
A Florida reporter cried Wednesday while covering a deadly shooting involving 24-year-old area journalist Dylan Lyons and a 9-year-old girl in the Pine Hills area near Orlando.
Standing outside Orlando Regional Medical Center, WESH reporter Luana Munoz struggled to hold back tears, wiping under her eyes and tugging at her collar in a heartbreaking live shot.
"I apologize. This is really very difficult to cover," she said. "It is very emotional here at ORMC. I'm not even going to turn the camera because there are people here who knew that reporter, who his fiancé and I were just embracing…"
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Luana Munoz, journalist of Orlando's WESH 2 news outlet, breaks down on-air as she reports on the fatal shooting that killed a 9-year-old girl and journalist Dylan Lyons early Wednesday. (WFLA News Channel 8/Facebook Screengrab; WESH)
"But I will say this. It is nice to see all the media, we come together in solidarity in this moment. This is every reporter's absolutely worst nightmare," she said.
A suspect identified by Orange County police as 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses fired shots into a news vehicle Wednesday morning, killing Lyons and a 9-year-old girl while photojournalist Jesse Walden and the child victim's mother were rushed to the hospital with critical injuries.
Moses is suspected of killing a woman earlier that morning and later returned to the crime scene where he fired shots at the vehicle.
Dylan Lyons, journalist murdered in and Orlando-area shooting early Wednesday. (Fox & Friends/Screengrab; Dylan Colby/Facebook)
The killings shook the journalistic community and the Orlando area as a whole.
Munoz continued the segment tearfully, pausing at intervals to gain composure, "We go home at night, afraid… that something like this will occur, and that is what happened here.
"We learned that a fellow reporter has died while covering a shooting. There are members of his family along with his fiancé who are incredibly distraught tonight. There are other media people who are corralled together and standing in solidarity tonight as one of our own has passed."
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A shooting took place in the Pine Hills area near Orlando Wednesday morning, killing two and injuring two more who remain in critical condition as of Thursday morning. The suspect is believed to have previously killed another victim earlier. (iStock)
Lyons' sister started a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral expenses.
"He was an acting father to his niece and nephew who he loved so much. He loved his fiancé and was a devoted son to his mother and father. Dylan would have been 25 years old in March. He was a happy soul and wonderful person in life. My brother was our baby. He was taken too early from us," the description read.
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Lyons, a reporter for Spectrum News covering Central Florida, was praised by colleagues as a rising star in broadcast journalism who worked hard and was dedicated to his family.
"He took his job very seriously. He loved his career. He loved what he did," said Spectrum Sports 360 reporter and friend, Josh Miller, in an obituary posted on Spectrum's site. "He loved the community, telling the stories of people, reporting on the news, and he was just passionate about what he did."