ORLANDO, Fla. – Two vigils were held on Friday evening honoring the three people killed in the series of shootings in Pine Hills.
Nathacha Augustin, 38, was shot to death Wednesday morning, and Spectrum News 13 journalist Dylan Lyons was shot hours later while covering her homicide, authorities said.
The suspect, 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, then shot and killed 9-year-old T’yonna Major, according to Orange County Sheriff John Mina.
The older sister of Augustin says she wants to honor her younger sister by letting people know that a light in the community was taken. She was described as a friendly person who looked out for her family.
“They took away my daughter’s tati. They took away my mother’s daughter. I love her as deeply as she loved us,” Rose Augustin-Wright said.
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With a heavy heart, Augustin-Wright wants people to know her sister Nathacha was a loving sister full of energy.
“Natacha was my first best friend. We are heartbroken. We are angry. We are lost,” Augustin-Wright said.
Her 38-year-old younger sister was the first of four other people shot that day. Among them, Spectrum News13 reporter, Dylan Lyons, photojournalist Jesse Walden, 9-year-old T’yonna Major and her mother.
On Friday night, community members came together at ICP Church in Orlando for a vigil in support of the family of the youngest victim.
“It’s really helping us get through this really difficult time. So, we really do thank all of you for taking the time to come out tonight, for you guys to take the time to put this event together and it lets us know that we’re not suffering in this alone,” said Phyllis Turner Robinson, T’yonna Major’s aunt.
While the little girl was remembered, outside the Nicholson School of Communication building at UCF, professors, students and journalists honored Lyons.
‘He took pride in his accomplishments. He was already an award winning journalist at age 24 with way too much potential ahead of him,” said UCF journalism professor Katie Coronado.
On Friday, Moses pleaded not guilty Friday to first-degree murder in the death of Augustin. She was the first person killed in a shooting spree that unfolded over several hours.
Deputies say Augustin was a passenger in a car on Hialeah Street when the driver picked up Moses, whom he said “seemed down.” Deputies say Moses got in the back seat of the car behind Augustin and then shot her.