Keith Melvin Moses: Orlando shooter who killed 3, including T’Yonna Major, 9, faces 2 new charges
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers' discretion is advised
ORLANDO, FLORIDA: Keith Melvin Moses, an alleged shooter who took the lives of three in Orlando killing, now faces two additional charges. As authorities expected, on Tuesday, he was booked under counts of first-degree murder with a firearm, two counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, and one more count of armed burglary of a dwelling with a firearm. Two shooting incidents were reported on February 22, when Nathacha Augustin, 38, T’Yonna Major, 9, and Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons died, as per Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
The newly released arrest affidavit also mentions Moses shot T’Yonna Major twice in her torso. Her mother had been napping at the time and she "woke up to T'Yonna Major yelling, ‘HE SHOT ME!’ as she ran into her room and jumped into her bed,” investigators mentioned in the legal document. The mother who got up from all the noise felt she was being shot in the arm. She then managed to grab her daughter, and they locked themselves in the master bathroom until law enforcement could reach them, as per the affidavit, reports Law&Crime.
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Keith Melvin Moses's arrest
“As she [Major's mother] spoke to T’Yonna Major, she told her that the suspect entered the residence through the sliding glass door, and she described the suspect as having dreadlocks,” said deputies. The mother “attempted to describe the suspect and said all she could see was short dreads and further described the suspect as tall and slim built.” The mother mentioned that she usually keeps all doors locked but occasionally leaves the rear sliding glass door unlocked to let their dog out, investigators wrote.
The authorities were able to nab the reported shooter and also recovered a gun from him which was said to be hot. “At the time deputies discovered the firearm, they noted the firearm was physically hot to the touch, and the slide was in the locked position with the magazine still inserted in the magazine well,” deputies wrote. “This is consistent with the firearm recently being shot until it ran out of ammunition and the slide locking to the rear.”
‘The next Gabby Douglas'
“She was a light to everyone that knew her,” T’Yonna’s father Tokiyo Major wrote on the GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the funeral, memorial, and therapy. “She was everything to us. She was a great student at the top of her 3rd-grade class and reading at a 5th-grade level. She was outgoing as well as an amazing gymnast. As her teachers would say ‘The next Gabby Douglas.'”