Police said the 19-year-old suspect shot dead a woman before returning to the scene and killing two others.
The 19-year-old suspect fatally shot a 20-year-old woman at about 11am (16:00 GMT) on Wednesday in Pine Hills, a suburb west of Orlando in central Florida.
About five hours later, he returned to the crime scene and opened fire on a Spectrum News 13 camera operator and a reporter as they stood near their vehicle. He then entered a nearby home and shot a woman and her nine-year-old daughter, according to police, in the latest mass shooting in the country.
The reporter, who has not been identified, and the child died from the wounds. A member of the TV crew and the girl’s mother were wounded.
“No one in our community, not a mother, not a nine-year-old child, and certainly not news professionals should become victims of gun violence,” said Orange County Sheriff John Mina.
CPJ ‘appalled’ by killing of @MyNews13 journalist reporting on Florida shootings https://t.co/eCCyHyl28d https://t.co/mNcL79mXws
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) February 23, 2023
He identified the suspect as Keith Melvin Moses, who he said had been taken into custody.
The sheriff added the attacker knew the 20-year-old victim, but did not have any known ties to those shot later in the day.
It was not immediately clear if two of the victims were targeted because they were journalists, but Mina noted that their automobile lacked the logos and markings typically seen on a news vehicle.
Shooting attacks involving multiple victims are strikingly common in the United States.
In 2023 alone, the Gun Violence Archive tracked 84 mass shootings, which are defined as having four or more victims.
Since 2020, there have been more than 600 mass shootings in the country annually, with 647 recorded in 2022, according to the tracker. Between 2015 and 2018, mass shootings hovered above 300 a year, increasing to 417 in 2019.
Recent attacks have included the fatal shooting of 11 people at a Lunar New Year’s celebration in California in January, which was followed days later by another shooting in the state in which seven people were killed, as well as the killing of three students during an attack at Michigan State University on February 13.
“Please, please, say a prayer tonight for our co-worker who is in critical condition. And while you’re at it, please say a prayer for every victim of gun violence in this country,” Spectrum 13’s Celeste Springer said during her live on-air report.
The National Press Club called the latest attack “another tragic reminder that journalism is a dangerous business and that criminals and those that are the subject of reporting can become violent toward reporters who are doing their jobs”.
Our hearts go out to the family of the journalist killed today and the crew member injured in Orange County, Florida, as well as the whole Spectrum News team.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) February 23, 2023
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre posted a message of condolence on Twitter.
“Our hearts go out to the family of the journalist killed today and the crew member injured in Orange County, Florida, as well as the whole Spectrum News team,” she said. “Too many lives are being ripped apart by gun violence.”