The devastated family of a 9-year-old Florida girl killed in a shooting rampage Wednesday remembered her as an excellent student, “amazing gymnast,” and “true joy” whose life was cut short by “senseless violence.”
Keith Moses, 19, allegedly killed T’yonna Major, 9, and injured her mother, Brandi Major, after opening fire on a Spectrum 13 news crew, according to authorities.
The journalists were covering an earlier murder in Orlando’s Pine Hills neighborhood, where Moses is accused of shooting and killing Nathacha Augustin, 38.
Authorities said that 24-year-old reporter Dylan Lyons was killed and photographer Jesse Walden was injured.
Phyllis Turner, T’yonna’s maternal great-aunt, told NBC News that the tragic girl was “the apple of her parents’ eye — she was just a true joy to them.”
She said T’yonna was an “extremely smart” student at Pine Hills Elementary School who was at the top of her class and also “an amazing gymnast.”
Her coach wanted to “really take her under her wing” because she thought she could compete in college and even “go to the Olympics,” according to Turner.
“She was a stickler for detail. “She didn’t care for second or third place,” Turner explained. “She just believed in doing her best in everything she did.”
T’yonna, she said, was a “funny little girl” who “brought so much joy and laughter to everybody,” and her parents are “absolutely devastated” by the unfathomable loss.
Turner said Brandi was shot in the arm and has been released from the hospital.
Dad Tokiyo Major wrote in a GoFundMe post that T’yonna was “a light to everyone that knew her,” adding, “She was everything to us. Senseless violence has taken the life of my little girl.”
Neighbor Thermon Patterson, 66, told NBC News that he saw Major rush out into the street crying for help after T’yonna was shot.
He said he didn’t see the gunman but felt he could have easily been targeted because he often sits outside his nearby home.
“I’m glad he’s off the street,” Patterson said about Moses.
Pine Hills Elementary School Principal Latonya Smothers said T’yonna was a “kind and beautiful young girl with an infectious smile. She will be missed dearly.”
“I know I speak for our entire Pine Hills community when I express the grief that we feel at the loss of one of our own,” she said in the message.
Moses was charged with second-degree murder in connection with Augustin’s death, but more charges are expected.
According to NBC News, the “known gang member” has a lengthy criminal record that includes arrests for theft, battery-domestic violence, and armed robbery.
Moses had only one arrest since becoming an adult, according to State Attorney Monique Worrell, and that was for marijuana possession in 2021, which was later dropped.
source:nsemwokrom.com