Parents of a local television journalist who died in 2023 after being fatally shot in the face while covering a murder in central Florida have filed a lawsuit for negligence against his former employer. They claim that the media company did not do enough to protect their son.
The parents of Spectrum News 13 journalist Dylan Lyons have filed a lawsuit in Orlando’s state court. The lawsuit seeks damages from Charter Communications, Spectrum’s parent company, on behalf of the journalist’s estate.
Lyons was not provided with any protective or security equipment, even though he was on a crime scene at which a woman was shot and the suspect was still on the loose.
Spectrum stated in an email sent on Wednesday that it was unconvinced by the allegations and would be seeking to dismiss them.
“Dylan’s murder was an unforeseeable and horrible tragedy,” Spectrum said. “With regards to these specific allegations, Dylan was the victim of a senseless act of violence.”
Lyons was covering the murder of a woman with Jesse Walden, a cameraman. The suspect then approached them and fired. Walden was injured and Lyons died. Authorities said that just minutes before, the suspect broke into a nearby house shot and killed a 9-year-old girl, and injured her mother.
Keith Moses was charged with the murder of Lyons, her, and the girl. He has pleaded not guilty.
According to a lawsuit, Spectrum does not provide its reporters or videographers with security personnel or personal protection measures when they are required to travel to areas of high crime.
The lawsuit stated that journalists face an increased threat of violence because of their work.
According to the station, Lyons, a native of Philadelphia, did an internship at WKMG while studying at the University of Central Florida, before beginning his journalism career in Gainesville.
Erik Sandoval, a WKMG reporter, said: “Dylan wished so much to be a broadcast journalist. He was very excited about his future and we were too. When I hugged him at an awards ceremony last year (where he was awarded), I gave him an enormous hug. Dylan was talented. Dylan was electric. Dylan had a bright future.”
Bruce Shapiro who edited a report in 2017 about journalist safety, stated in an email on Wednesday that it is “undeniable”, that local reporting in the United States has become more hazardous.
Shapiro, Executive Director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, Columbia Journalism School, said that not only crime reporters, but also investigative journalists, local politicians, and television meteorologists, have suffered unprecedented abuse, harassment, and violent attacks.
The 2017 report focused on crisis and war reporters. Since then, there has been a much wider recognition that local newsrooms have a duty of care for the safety of their staff. However, he noted that “there is little consensus as to what this looks like.”
