'We have to carry his light forward': Knight Nation honors Orlando TV reporter killed
Jesse Walden, Orlando photojournalist, describes shooting that injured him, killed reporter Dylan Lyons
Jesse Walden, a photojournalist with Spectrum News 13 who was shot while covering a story about a shooting earlier in the day, told FOX 35's Amanda McKenzie that he is still recovering at the hospital, and that he is devastated over the death of his colleague, Dylan Lyons.
Orlando, Fla. - The University of Central Florida is honoring alumni Dylan Lyons who was killed while reporting in Orlando.
Spectrum 13 News Reporter Dylan Lyons was shot and killed while reporting on a homicide investigation in Pine Hills Wednesday. He graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2019. Journalism students honored Lyons in their student broadcast "Knightly News" on Friday.
Knight Nation has been feeling Lyons' loss with a heavy heart. His former professor described him as a ray of sunshine.
"He had a theater background in high school, so we could bounce into any room he went into whether it was the classroom, the newsroom," said UCF Professor Rick Brunson. "He was just alive, and now he’s not, so that’s what we’re all trying to deal with and grapple with."
CONTINUING COVERAGE
- Dylan Lyons: What we know about the Orlando reporter shot and killed while covering Pine Hills murder
- Keith Melvin Moses: What we know about suspect in deadly Pine Hills mass shooting
- Timeline: When and where the shootings happened that left 3 dead, 2 hurt
- Pine Hills shootings: What we know about the victims
Many on campus, and in the community find it so hard to know he was killed while doing his job, a job that he loved.
"He was 24. His life was in front of him and for it to be so tragically and criminally taken away it’s unjust it’s not right, it’s just so grotesquely unfair," said Brunson. "Dealing with all those emotions and trying to remember how bright he was. We have to carry his light forward."
But, his Knight family is carrying him in their hearts through this tragedy.
"I just feel like everything I do from here on out, I’m going to carry him in my heart and do everything with all the love possible like he would have done," said UCF Journalism Student Jackie Cardentey.