Murdered TV reporter’s parents claim employer failed to protect him

The parents of a local TV journalist who was fatally shot while reporting on a killing in central Florida in 2023 have filed a negligence lawsuit against their son’s former employer, claiming the media company didn’t do enough to protect him.

The parents of Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons filed the lawsuit Tuesday in state court in Orlando. It seeks monetary damages against Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum, on behalf of the journalist’s estate.

The lawsuit, obtained by CBS affiliate WKMG-TV, said Lyons wasn’t given any security or protective equipment even though he was at a crime scene where a woman had been shot and the suspect was still at large.

Spectrum said in an email Wednesday that the claims were unfounded and it would seek to have them dismissed.

“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 and cameraman Jesse Walden were covering the killing of a woman when the suspect approached and shot them. Lyons was killed and Walden was wounded. Just minutes earlier, the suspect had broken into a nearby home and fatally shot a 9-year-old girl and wounded her mother, authorities said.

The suspect, Keith Moses, was later charged with murder in the deaths of Lyons, the woman and the girl. He has pleaded not guilty.

Although Spectrum requires its reporters and videographers to go to high-crime areas, the company doesn’t provide them with personal protection measures or security personnel, according to the lawsuit.

“Journalists face an increasing threat of violence due to their work,” the lawsuit said.

Lyons, who was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, interned at WKMG-TV while attending the University of Central Florida before starting his journalism career in Gainesville, according to the station.

“Dylan wanted so badly to be a broadcast journalist,”  WKMG reporter Erik Sandoval said. “He was excited for his future, and we were excited for him. When I saw him last year at an awards ceremony (where he won), I gave him a huge hug. Dylan was talented. Dylan was electric. Dylan had a future.”

Bruce Shapiro, who edited a 2017 report about journalist safety training, said in an email Wednesday that it was “undeniable” that local reporting has become more dangerous in the United States.

“Not only crime reporters but investigative journalists, local political reporter, even television meteorologists have endured unprecedented abuse, harassment, and violent attacks,” said Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia Journalism School.

The 2017 report was focused on war and crisis reporters, but since that time, “there has been much wider recognition of local newsrooms’ duty of care to the safety of staff, but there’s little consensus on what that looks like,” he said.