A Florida reporter who was shot and killed while on assignment last month has been laid to rest, his family confirmed in a statement posted online this week.
The family of Spectrum News reporter Dylan Lyons buried his body during a private ceremony held over the weekend. The announcement was made on a GoFundMe page that sought donations to help cover the expenses associated with his funeral.
“I hope none of you ever have to bury a child,” Gary Lyons, Dylan’s father, said in a statement. “Dylan is my only son and I always told him that [that], when I am gone, I need him to take care of the family matters and to take care of everybody. He always promised me he would do so. I am so proud of my son.”
Lyons was covering a violent crime in Orlando’s Park Hills neighborhood last month when he was approached by a gunman and fatally shot. Jesse Walden, a photographer assigned to Lyons for the day, was critically injured in the shooting; he was hospitalized for treatment and released a few days later.
The suspected gunman later shot a woman and her 9-year-old girl. The child, T’Yonna Major, died from her injuries. The gunman was later arrested by police and identified as a suspect in the earlier shooting that Lyons and Walden were covering that day.
After the shooting, hundreds of people honored Lyons by donating to a GoFundMe page launched to help his family with funeral expenses. The donors included the owners of television stations that compete with Spectrum News in the Orlando Market. Fox Television Stations, Cox Media Group and Gray Television each donated $5,000 to his funeral fundraiser.
As of Tuesday evening, the amount collected through the fundraiser exceeded $79,000. Lyons’ father is expected to receive the money at a later date. A separate fundraiser launched to assist the family of the slain child has raised nearly $67,000.
Spectrum News is part of the Spectrum TV brand and is owned by Charter Communications.
