Pine Hills mass shooting spurs town halls, emotional discussions

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A Town Hall meeting was held Thursday night in Orange County in response to the recent deadly shootings.

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The discussion was emotional, frank and honest as we heard for the first time from the families of two of the victims in the Pine Hills shooting: 9-year-old T’Yonna Major and Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons, who was covering an earlier shooting at the scene.

READ: ‘Forever broken’: Families of Dylan Lyons, T’Yonna Major bond over loss, call for change

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Families, communities remember victims after Orange County mass shooting T’Yonna Major, 9, Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons, 24, and Nathacha Augustin died in a mass shooting Wednesday. (WFTV/WFTV)

A town hall meeting in Pine Hills Thursday evening echoed the families’ calls for change after the violence.

In the audience was Johnny Brinson, the son of Lt. Debra Clayton, who was shot and killed when she encountered a wanted murder suspect in the parking lot of a Walmart in 2017.

Read: Deputies release minute-by-minute timeline of shootings that killed woman, reporter & girl

“It doesn’t matter what city you’re from, what district you’re from, we just all need to come together as one and make a difference,” Brinson said. “I feel like as long as we reach out to the youth and provide more programs … we should be better off. That’s what my mom believed in, getting them more involved.”

Read: UCF students create memorial to honor slain TV journalist Dylan Lyons

Video: ‘Forever broken’: Families of Dylan Lyons, T’Yonna Major bond over loss, call for change Two Central Florida families are now connected forever as members of a club no one wants to be in: those who’ve lost loved ones to gun violence. (Ashley Edlund, WFTV.com)

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