PINE HILLS, Florida - A man who fatally shot a 20-year-old woman on Wednesday morning in Orange County, Florida, returned to the scene later in the day and went on a shooting spree, killing a TV news reporter who had been covering the original homicide and a nine-year-old at a nearby home.

The gunman, Keith Melvin Moses, 19, also shot two other people in Pine Hills, Florida, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a news conference on Wednesday: The mother of the nine-year-old and a photographer who worked with the TV news reporter at Spectrum News 13 in Orlando. They were both in critical condition on Wednesday night.

Moses was in custody by Wednesday evening and charged with one count of murder in connection with the killing of the 20-year-old. Additional charges are expected for the other shootings in Pine Hills, about 8km east of Orlando, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said.

Sheriff Mina said the suspect was armed with a pistol when taken into custody and has a lengthy criminal record that included arrests on charges of firearms offences, aggravated battery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and grand theft. 

Sheriff Mina said no motive had been determined for any of Wednesday’s shootings, but he said Moses was believed to have been an acquaintance of the first victim, who was shot while sitting in a car with the suspected gunman and another person. 

He said he did not know whether the two newsmen were targeted because they were journalists, adding that their vehicle lacked the logos and markings typically seen on a news vehicle.

They were in or near their vehicle when shot. 

“As far as we know, he had no connection to the reporters and no connection to the mother or the nine-year old, and we don’t know why he entered their home,” Sheriff Mina said. 

He said both the mother and the surviving journalist were in hospital in critical condition. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre posted a message of condolences on Twitter. 

“Our hearts go out to the family of the journalist killed today and the crew member injured in Orange County, Florida, as well as the whole Spectrum News team,” she said.

The attack recalls an incident in 2015 when news reporter Alison Parker and photojournalist Adam Ward, both employees of CBS affiliate WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia, were fatally shot while conducting a live television interview.

The gunman was 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan, a former reporter at WDBJ who had been fired in 2013 for disruptive conduct.

After a five-hour manhunt, Flanagan shot himself and died later at a hospital. NYTIMES, REUTERS