UCF students working on report on death of a journalism school alumnus

A memorial in honor of Spectrum News 13 Reporter Dylan Lyons now sits outside the Nicholson School of Communications at the University of Central Florida, Lyons’ alma mater. Some who stopped by left flowers, and some wrote messages, but for journalism students at UCF, the memorial means something else too. They are working on an assignment they never imagined: reporting on the death of an alumnus at their school.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A day after an Orlando television reporter was killed on the job, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday criticized Florida Republican leaders for proposals that would allow people to carry concealed weapons without licenses.

"This is the opposite of common-sense gun safety," Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing. "And the people of Florida, who have paid a steep price for state and congressional inaction on guns, from Parkland to Pulse Nightclub to Pine Hills, deserve better."

Spectrum News 13 television reporter Dylan Lyons, 24, was fatally shot in the Pine Hills area of Orange County while at the scene of an earlier murder. Television photographer Jesse Walden also was shot but survived.

In addition, a 9-year-old child and a 38-year-old woman were killed, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which arrested a suspect.

The Florida House and Senate are moving forward with proposals (HB 543 and SB 150) that would end a decades-old requirement that people get state licenses before they can carry concealed weapons. Supporters of the proposals have argued, in part, that carrying guns can help with self-defense.