ORLANDO, Fla. — The families of 9-year-old T’Yonna Major, Spectrum News 13 journalist Dylan Lyons, and shooting survivor Brandi Major have filed a federal lawsuit against the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO), alleging negligence and failures that contributed to the tragedy.

The lawsuit, filed by NeJame Law in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, claims deputies knowingly failed to warn residents of an active and armed killer in Pine Hills, a predominantly Black neighborhood. The complaint asserts that this lack of warning led to the deaths of T’Yonna Major and Dylan Lyons and the shooting of Brandi Major.

The lawsuit is separate from the one previously filed against Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum News 13, in connection with Lyons’ death.

A Preventable Tragedy

The lawsuit details a chilling sequence of events that unfolded on February 22, 2023.

Earlier in the day, 38-year-old Natacha Augustin, an up-and-coming hip-hop artist known as “Honey D,” was fatally shot. Deputies responded to the scene, but the suspect, Keith Moses, was still on the loose.

Hours later, Brandi Major, unaware of the danger, picked up her daughter T’Yonna from Pine Hills Elementary School—less than a mile from where Moses was last seen. As she drove into her neighborhood, she noticed law enforcement and asked what was happening. According to the lawsuit, deputies assured her that the situation was taken care of and waved her through.

Unaware that the killer remained at large, Major entered her home, leaving the back door open as she went about her evening. Moments later, Moses returned to the scene, saw the open door, and entered.

“Mommy, Mommy, I’ve been shot!” were T’Yonna’s final words as she ran to her mother, bleeding. The shooter fired again, striking both mother and daughter. T’Yonna succumbed to her injuries, cradled in her mother’s arms.

Reporter Shot in the Exact Spot of Earlier Murder

Later that afternoon, a Spectrum News 13 crew arrived at the neighborhood to cover Augustin’s killing. The original crime scene had been wiped clean, leaving no visible indication that a murder had even occurred there earlier that day.

According to NeJame Law, Dylan Lyons unknowingly parked his news vehicle in the exact spot where Augustin had been murdered. A senior photographer at the scene reportedly sensed the danger and quickly left, but Lyons remained in the area with his videographer.

That’s when Moses emerged once again and opened fire. He shot Lyons’ videographer and then fatally shot Lyons, who was still sitting inside his vehicle, wearing a headset.

In just four hours and four minutes, the lawsuit argues, a homicide scene was sanitized, residents were misled, and two more innocent lives were lost—all because law enforcement failed to take basic precautions to protect the community.

Disparate Treatment?

Attorney Mark NeJame pointed to stark differences in how law enforcement responds to violent crime in Pine Hills, a historically Black neighborhood, compared to affluent, majority-white areas of Orange County.

“My daughters went to Lake Highland Prep, and when there was a shooting in a surrounding neighborhood, the entire school was shut down. Parents were notified immediately. From what we’ve seen, that did not happen here,” NeJame said.

Pine Hills Elementary, less than a mile from the crime scene, was never placed on lockdown. The lawsuit claims homicide detectives in the case admitted that warnings were not issued in the way they would have been for other neighborhoods.

“If this had happened in my wealthy, white Windermere neighborhood, everyone would have known about it,” NeJame asserted.

Sheriff’s Office Denies Allegations

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office released a statement denying any wrongdoing:

“Keith Moses is the only person responsible for the heinous acts of violence that took the lives of three of our residents and gravely injured two others. We grieve those losses along with our community. The claims against the Orange County Sheriff’s Office are unfounded, and we will be asking the judge to dismiss this case.”

However, the families of the victims insist that law enforcement failed to provide the most basic warnings that could have saved lives.

Read Duly Elected State Attorney Monique Worrell Gets Sworn-In Amidst Controversy – Worrell Blamed for Keith Moses Killings by Law Enforcement and Governor

Worrell’s suspension & the significance of the case against Keith Moses – Excerpt

Although OCSO’s statement released today (2/18/2025) states Moses is solely responsible for the murders, Orange County Sheriff John Mina shifted blame to State Attorney Monique Worrell for the Pine Hills shootings in 2023.

Worrell’s suspension came after she was accused of being lenient on Keith Melvin Moses by local law enforcement agencies and Florida’s Governor. Moses was arrested for possessing 4.6 grams of cannabis in 2021 during a traffic stop. In that encounter with Orange County deputies, Moses was one of two suspects who may have thrown a gun out of the vehicle.

In a watchdog exclusive Spectrum News story by journalists Molly Duerig and Curtis McCloud, Sheriff John Mina said the State Attorney’s Office should have taken a closer look at the case. But Mina also admitted there were missteps within his agency. Mina said, “So we’re looking at how to fill those gaps and again that’s the responsibility of a supervisor, and the chain in command and also the State Attorney’s Office as well to say (inaudible) you arrested this juvenile and in your report you stated that there was a gun — was that gun ever tested, did you test it, what were the results of that.” But the report shows deputies did not make mention of a gun charge making it impossible for the State Attorney’s Office to know a gun was connected to the incident.

Tragically, on February 22nd, 2023 Moses shot and killed a woman, a 9-year old girl, and a Spectrum News reporter in the Pine Hills community in Orange County. During the shooting, he also shot and wounded a Spectrum News photographer.

In addition to deputies not listing the gun charge on the arrest report, deputies also did not follow through with testing the gun for fingerprints. It was only after the triple murders in Pine Hills that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department tested the gun for DNA. Those results showed the gun could not be tied to Moses.