Here’s why News 6 named the 15-year-old accused in deadly Orlando drive-by shooting

News 6 developed new crime guidelines in 2022

A large contingent of Orlando police flooded a portion of the Carver Shores neighborhood Tuesday night. (Copyright 2023 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved.)

ORLANDO, Fla. – Sunday, after being notified by Orlando police that a 15-year-old boy had been arrested in connection to a triple-shooting on Tuesday that’s since taken the lives of a 6-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man, News 6 decided to name and show the teen.

News 6 will not normally share pictures or identities of minors due to their age, yet some stories do warrant transparency in both sharing everything we know at the given time and in explaining why such times are different.

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This station in 2022 developed new guidelines for covering crime. In place of absolutes such as always or never covering such stories in full, these guidelines serve as questions we now consider in the reporting process:

  • Is there an immediate threat to public safety?
  • Is there a threat to children?
  • What community action is required?
  • Is this a crime story we will see to the end?
  • Do we have a good description?
  • What crime was actually committed?

For 15-year-old Nico Brown — who Orlando police expect will face charges of first-degree homicide in the shooting deaths of Ajahliyah Hashim, 6, and Isaiyah Wright, 19 — the severity of the charges, the as-yet unshared circumstances of the shooting and the teen’s arrest, heightened public interest and the police department’s call to said public for more information present a case relevant to our updated crime guidelines.

Considering these factors, News 6 will name and show the boy in our ongoing coverage of this story.


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