An Orlando journalist was killed today while covering a shooting that occurred earlier Wednesday.
The Orange County, Florida Sheriff’s Office now says they have taken a 19-year old man into custody for the death of the Spectrum News 13 employee and a 9-year old girl.
“We have detained the person believed to be responsible for the murder this morning as well as the shooting this afternoon,” In Sheriff John Mina said in a hastily called press conference. “He is being formally charged in the murder from this morning and we expect additional charges for the shooting of the four people this afternoon.”
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As well as being implicated in the death of a women in her 20s earlier Wednesday, the journalist, and the youg girl, the suspect shot another News 13 staffer and the 9-year old’s mother. Both the other journalist and the parent are in critical condition in a nearby hospital, according to law enforcement officials.
Sheriff Mina detailed that the photographer and reporter were in their news van at the Pine Hills location at around 3 PM ET when the suspect approached their vehicle and fired inside. Soon afterwards, the suspect went to a home close by and shot the child and her mother inside. With officers close by because of the earlier shooting Police received a new 9-1-1 call about the shootings around 4:05 PM ET the Sheriff said.
“It’s unclear why exactly they were targeted,” Sheriff Mina admitted of the shooting of the news crew. “And, you know, certainly we’re going to look into that.” The suspect, whose name Deadline is declining to publicize, has a “lengthy criminal history, according to the Sheriff.
Besides the arrested suspect, no names have been released as of yet.
As news of the killings began to come out, Radio Television Digital News Association president & CEO Dan Shelly took to social media to offer condolences:
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