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During a bizarre shooting spree in Orange County, Florida, a man shot and killed three people. One of the victims was a nine-year-girl, while the others included a woman and a TV news reporter.
As I described above, the circumstances were truly strange. About 11 am on Wednesday morning, the gunman shot and killed a 20-year-old woman in Pine Hills, near Orlando. She died at the scene.
But later in the afternoon, around 4 pm, the gunman returned and shot and killed a TV news reporter who was covering the story. He then entered a nearby home and shot a mother and child there; the nine-year-old girl died. The shooter still wasn’t done: he also shot the photographer who worked with the news reporter. Both the mother and the photographer were taken to a hospital. At the time of this writing, both are in critical condition.
But while the shooter, identified as 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, knew his first victim, he didn’t know any of the others.
And as you might have guessed, he has a lengthy rap sheet, which includes, according to an Orlando news station: “prior firearm possession charges, including attempted first degree murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, burglary, grand theft and armed robbery with a firearm.”
Screenshot: @OrangeCoSheriff/Twitter.
Yet he was out roaming the streets. Go figure.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina held a press conference in which he was clearly shaken by the events.
#BREAKING: News reporter & photographer shot while covering homicide from this AM in Pine Hills, just west of Orlando, FL; 1 of them has died, sheriff says. 2 other people shot nearby, including 9-year-old girl. 19-year-old suspect is in custody. @livenowfox pic.twitter.com/nZTtB2Qbbv
— Josh Breslow (@JoshBreslowTV) February 23, 2023
The sheriff added:
It’s hard to know if he was targeting this news crew. Again, that will all be a part of our investigation. I was out at there at the scene and the vehicle doesn’t really look like a news vehicle to me, but then again, there was a photographer there so that’s possible.
Bottom line: we don’t know why this Florida man felt he needed to kill not only a woman he knew, but an anonymous reporter and a small child as well.
Pine Hills, where the shootings occurred, is an unincorporated suburb of Orlando. And just looking at census and demographics data for Pine Hills paints a picture of a low-income, crime-ridden area.
For example, the per capita income of Pine Hills is about $16,500, which is less than half that of the state of Florida. Its median household income is a little over $42,000, or two-thirds of Florida’s median income. Almost 27% of residents live below the poverty line.
As far as crime goes, it’s like many other towns in that it depends on the neighborhood. The website CrimeGrade.org gives Pine Hills an overall crime grade of C, but violent crime in the suburb ranked a D. Plus if you live in the northwest part of town, your chance of being a crime victim is 1 in 57. But if you live in the southeast neighborhoods, look out — your chances drop to 1 in 27.
One Twitter user pointed out these statistics from the FBI:
The crime rate in Pine Hills is 72% higher than the country’s average. In comparison, violent crimes are 68% higher than the average, according to a FBI report.
While Jim LaPorta, who writes about national security and the military for various media outlets, added this:
I was born and raised in Orlando, not far from Pine Hills. I’m not sure if it’s still called this today, but at least until 2006, Pine Hills went by a different, unofficial name, by locals: “Crime Hills.” The name came about due to the rival street gangs that operated there. https://t.co/hMIJO4NBEa
— Jim LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) February 23, 2023
“Crime Hills.” That sounds like a similar nickname given to the city that lies on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan: “Chi-raq.” Where just two days earlier a baby was killed in an expressway shooting, but I bet you never heard about that. Perhaps because no journalist died.
Oddly, there have been very few calls for more gun control among members of the media. Oh, there have been some on social media, such as gun foe Shannon Watts, who accused Gov. Ron DeSantis of trying to turn Florida into a shooting gallery:
BREAKING: A 9-year-old and a local TV news staffer were among three people shot to death in Orlando, Florida, by a 19-year-old. Gov. DeSantis is currently trying to pass permitless carry – legislation opposed by police that would strip background checks and training from gun ownership.
In my state of Kansas we’ve maintained “permitless” carry for some years — successfully, too. Besides, I highly doubt that Keith Melvin Moses was carrying any kind of permit when he shot five people on Wednesday.
But other than that, the calls for taking guns away from citizens were largely absent from the media. I wonder why. Maybe they were more focused on their colleagues who were shot and killed. Or perhaps because the perpetrator doesn’t fit the narrative of the white male shooter with an AR-15.
I know, those are cynical takes. But fair, don’t you think?
Featured image: reloaderaddict.com/flickr/cropped/CC BY 2.0.
Cameron says: It’s easy to understand why. The Narrative must be protected at all costs.
Scott says: You can bet that the previous gun charges were plea bargained away. Scratch a thug like this, and you’ll find a lazy, probably leftist prosecutor who let him off easy. There’s not a single reason this thug should have been on the street, and with the way he’s grinning in the mug shots, he knows he’ll get off easy this time too.
Real shame that he didn’t try to shoot it out with cops, but candy asses like this are only “brave” when they’re facing unarmed victims and little children. The only issue I’ll take with your post is where you call this animal a “man”, as he is nothing of the sort. He needs to be put down like the rabid dog he is, and thrown on the nearest trash heap.
Of course it’d be racist to point out the demographics involved, the fact that he’s only 19 and already has a rap sheet like that, and that he and others like him do not belong in a civilized society… But it doesn’t mean it’s not true.
And yeah, Shannon Watts and her ilk are a big part of the problem, and can FOAD!
GWB says: ANOTHER “Internal server error” when posting a comment.
tom says: How do you know the race of the shooter and the type of weapon in articles like these?
Answer: when the article specifically does not mention race or type of weapon the perpetrator’s race is black and the weapon is not an AR-15 or similar “assault weapon” (with high capacity magazine).
“Permits” do nothing to prevent criminals from getting a firearm. All it does is add one more charge – which, if the main charges are first degree homicide(s), are a peccadillo.
Training does nothing to prevent actual criminal use of firearms, either. If anything, I would rather face off with a thug that has no idea of what he is doing than one that is competent.
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