Jesse Walden Wiki

                        Jesse Walden Biography

Spectrum News is mourning the loss of Dylan Lyons, a reporter shot to death while covering a shooting in Orlando on Wednesday.

Authorities say the young reporter was shot along with his photographer, Jesse Walden, who is in the hospital Thursday morning. His loved ones say that he is alert and speaking.

Lyons graduated from UCF and had deep roots in Central Florida.

Career

According to his LinkedIn profile, he interned at two local news stations before beginning his career in Gainesville just three years ago.

He joined Spectrum News 13 in July of last year.

Veteran Orlando reporter Nancy Alvarez said it appeared that, at some point, Lyons had been “everyone’s intern.”

“We all knew him. Because he was the kind of guy who made sure you did it,” she wrote on Facebook. “We watched him grow. We cheered him on. He was our future. We sent love and strength to his family, his photographer, News 13, the Nicholson School of Communication and Media at the University of Central Florida… and each one of us.” that he loves this job as much as Dylan. He may have loved more.”

GoFundMe

Family members created a GoFundMe to help pay for Lyon’s funeral. She would have celebrated her 25th birthday next month.

“She was a happy soul and a wonderful person in life. My brother was our baby. He was taken from us too soon,” her sister wrote.

On Wednesday night, WESH 2 spoke with one of his former UCF professors at the hospital.

Rick Brunson said he flew down the 408 to meet Dylan’s family at the hospital when he heard that one of his former students had been shot.

“My heart breaks for his family. He loved his mother so much, he always wanted his mother to be so proud,” he said. “The last time I saw Dylan was when I visited him at his station in Gainesville a couple of summers ago. I went there and we got to talk and spend some time together…I’m shocked, I’m just really shocked. This is one of ours and as soon as I heard that one of our students had been shot, I ran to the hospital because this hits so close to home. This is one of ours.”

Lyons was one of three people killed in a series of shootings believed to have been carried out by the same 19-year-old suspect. Officials have not identified a motive.

“It’s not clear if [the suspect] knew if they were news outlets or not,” Sheriff John Mina said.