"I apologize," she said through her tears. "This is really difficult to cover."
Trigger Warning: The following article contains descriptions of gun violence which some readers may find distressing.
A news reporter got extremely emotional as she covered the heartbreaking death of Dylan Lyons, a news reporter in Orlando, Florida, who was shot while on a reporting assignment. Lyons, a 24-year-old Spectrum News 13 reporter, and Jesse Walden, a 29-year-old video journalist, were in a vehicle on Pine Hills' Hialeah Street when they were shot at. Lyons, unfortunately, succumbed to his wounds, and Walden is still in the hospital fighting serious wounds, per PEOPLE.
WESH reporter Luana Munoz wept as she stood in front of Orlando Regional Medical Center, where reporters were informed that Lyons had passed away. In a touching video that news editor Michael Pegram reposted, per PEOPLE, she's heard saying through tears, "I apologize. This is really difficult to cover. It is very emotional here at ORMC."
🚨🚨🚨#BREAKING: Multiple people, including news crew, shot at scene of #Florida homicide
— Wake Up Waverly (@WaverlyWakeUp) February 23, 2023
Listen as reporter who knew one of the victims talks live from the scene 🙏
Multiple people were shot at the scene of an earlier deadly shooting in #OrangeCounty Wednesday, according to… https://t.co/jqOPl8TzkP pic.twitter.com/JFHRkEKIDT
"I will say this — it is nice to see all the media," added Munoz. "We come together in solidarity at this moment. This is every reporter's absolute worst nightmare. We go home at night afraid that something like this will occur, and that is what happened here."
She continued, "We are at Orlando Regional Medical Center, where we have learned that one of our own, a fellow reporter, has died while out covering a shooting. There are members of his family here, along with his fiancée, who is just incredibly distraught tonight. There are other media people who are kind of corralled together and standing in solidarity tonight as one of our own has just passed."
Lyons and Walden were on site to investigate the case of Nathacha Augustin who had been shot and killed. The journalists were reporting on the 38-year-old's death when the same shooter came and shot at Lyon and Walden. After shooting at the two journalists, while people attempted to save them, the assailant fled to a house a block away and opened fire on a mother and her daughter. Young 9-year-old T'yonna Major died of gunshot wounds.
https://t.co/7LB80ysVuQ
— Casey Lynn (@Caseyswim1996) February 23, 2023
The love of my life was murdered. I will never be the same person ever again. Please help my family and I during this time. pic.twitter.com/3dHrNcdIKK
In a heartbreaking post on social media, Lyons' fiancee Lynn expressed her grief over Dylan's passing and posted a GoFundMe link to help pay for his funeral expenses. "The love of my life was murdered," wrote Lynn. "I will never be the same person ever again. Please help my family and I during this time," she added.
Rick Brunson, Dylan Lyons' former journalism professor, shared several pictures of his former student and mentee on Facebook after learning of the tragic news of Lyons' passing. Brunson referred to Lyons as "always front and center; a leader in our journalism school." He wrote, "He lit up a classroom with his smile, his energy, his enthusiasm, and his passion." Brunson continued, "He cared, deeply, about doing journalism the right way. We are shattered to lose him when so much life was ahead of him."
"I am deeply crushed for his family and his fiancée, as well as the families of the other two precious lives lost in this heinous crime," he added. "To his Spectrum News 13 family, we mourn with you," he concluded the moving tribute.
References:
https://people.com/crime/dylan-lyons-journalist-killed-orlando-shooting/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/dylan-lyons
Cover Image Source: YouTube | WFLA News
