Club mourns Lyons with moment of silence

The National Press Club mourned Dylan Lyons Friday with a moment of silence.

Lyons, a reporter with Spectrum News 13, was shot and killed Feb. 22 while covering another shooting in Orlando, Florida. His colleague, photojournalist Jesse Walden, was also injured in the shooting and is now hospitalized.

Club President Eileen O’Reilly made brief remarks before the moment of silence. An archive of the livestream is available online. Here is O’Reilly’s statement in its entirety:

Good afternoon. I’m Eileen O’Reilly and I am the 116th president of the National Press Club. I’m also the managing editor at Axios, in charge of our standards and training.

We have come together today to recognize a tragic event that took place this week in Florida.

Journalist Dylan Lyons of Spectrum News 13 and photojournalist Jesse Walden were doing what they do every day — they were covering a story.

Earlier in the day there had been an incident of gun violence in which a young girl named Tee-Yonna Major was killed and her mother injured. 

Dylan and Jesse were just doing their jobs. The same jobs many of you in this room do. The same jobs many of you on the livestream do. 

They were engaged in journalism. They were informing the public. They were seeking the truth of what happened to that young girl.

Now, Dylan is dead and Jesse is in the hospital, both victims of gun violence.

Our hearts go out to their families, friends and to their colleagues at Spectrum News. Those are the people most affected. 

It’s important to note, though, that for every reporter in the field this is a real and significant concern. Reporters cover hurricanes, building fires, car crashes — and all those things have elements of violence. 

Reporters also cover gun violence with increasing regularity. They see it up close and it can cause stress and mental trauma, but are still driven to bear witness to what has happened to the victims and to inform the public on what they need to know. 

This was a terrible reminder of the risks that job can involve. The number of journalists killed globally jumped 50% last year. To the reporters who are listening, please do all you can to stay safe and be aware of your surroundings. 

I wanted to say a word about Dylan. He was just 24 years old. 24 is such a bright and optimistic age - your career has started gathering momentum and you’re figuring out what you want your personal life to look like. 

Dylan was on the air in Orlando at 24, which is a great achievement, and he was engaged with a life full of promise.

That was all ended in an instant. 

And I want to say a word about Jesse, who is still recovering in the hospital. We send you well-wishes and hopes for a quick recovery. He told a TV station about how he and Dylan became best friends after working day-after-day, doing their important jobs together. We are sorry for your loss as well.

There is much to be sad about, with the loss of Dylan and 9-year old Tee-Yonna to senseless violence. And there is much to be hopeful about, for Jesse’s recovery and his future, as well as that of T’Yonna’s mom.

Let’s now please take a moment of silence to remember Dylan and all of those caught in senseless violence.

[A moment of silence was observed.]

Thank you.  And thank you for joining us today. 

As journalists, we need to recognize that we have strength together and we need to be there for each other – on days like today, and every day. Be safe.