DeSantis, Scott call out Soros-backed state attorney after Orlando shooting

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (FLV) – Florida Republicans criticized a George Soros-backed state attorney after an alleged shooter with a criminal history was not put behind bars for an adult offense prior to reportedly killing three people.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina said the suspect does have a criminal history. Several of the arrests were from when he was a juvenile.

Keith Moses, 19, was identified as the suspected gunman who allegedly shot five people on Feb. 22, killing 9-year-old T’yonna Major, 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin and 24-year-old reporter Dylan Lyons of Spectrum News 13.

Moses has at least eight felony and 11 misdemeanor arrests, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Monique H. Worrell said Moses’ only adult offense was a possession of marijuana in 2021 that her office did not charge.

“So there was one adult case for 4.6 grams of marijuana that my office determined was not suitable for prosecution based on our inability to prove the nature of the substance,” Worrell said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis called out Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Monique H. Worrell at a press conference on Monday.

“I cannot believe they let this guy – you have to hold people accountable. This idea – and, I know the district attorney, state attorney in Orlando thinks that you don’t prosecute people and that’s the way that you somehow have better communities – that does not work,” he said.

“And you have these people when they’ve had multiple arrests, multiple times where they could be held accountable, and you keep cycling them out into the community, you are increasing the chances that something bad will happen,” DeSantis said.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., sent a strong statement Friday condemning prosecutors involved in Moses’ prior cases.

“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Every prosecutor that chose to give this young criminal a pass should be fired TODAY, and State Attorney Worrell must immediately account for how her office failed to protect the community from a violent criminal and outline what she’s changing to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Scott said.

Florida’s Voice reached out to Worrell’s office for a comment. The state attorney has also received support from a George Soros-funded PAC.

According to reports, Our Vote Our Voice ran ads in support of Worrell. George Soros funds Democracy PAC, which gave $1 million to Our Vote Our Voice PAC.

The governor’s former press secretary, Christina Pushaw, has previously criticized Andrew Warren and other prosecutors for being “backed by Soros” and refusing to “enforce laws across the country.”

DeSantis previously suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren of the 13th Judicial Circuit for failing to prosecute certain crimes and vowing not to enforce certain abortion laws or potential laws related to sex change operations in Aug. 2022.

Worrell said why her office did not charge for Moses’ possession of 4.6 grams of marijuana at a press conference last week.

“When you have a quantity that low, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement does not test the substance, and that means the State Attorney’s Office cannot prove the case,” Worrell said.

According to the arrest documents from 2021, Moses and two other young men were seen smoking suspected marijuana in a car in Pine Hills. As deputies approached the car, a stolen firearm was thrown out of the window.

“It should be noted that all three subjects have multiple prior firearm possession charges, to include Attempted First Degree Murder and Armed Robbery with a Firearm and all had ski mask style masks on them or in the vehicle,” the arrest document said.

Worrell also said Florida law prohibits her from discussing the details of any juvenile dispositions.

“But, I will say that juvenile dispositions are not qualified as convictions. So, when we say an individual has a certain amount of juvenile arrests with no convictions, that statement is out of context, because there is nowhere in the state of Florida when a child is arrested, that the result of that arrest is a conviction,” she explained.

Worrell said that she proposed to the legislature that they change the rules regarding juvenile justice to extend the period of time that children can be held in juvenile programs.

“Under the current state of the law, jurisdiction is lost to the Department of Juvenile Justice when a child is sentenced – that means the court nor the State Attorney’s Office has a say in what ultimately is the program or the length of time that a child has kept in the program,” said Worrell.

“I proposed to the legislature that jurisdiction remain with the court, and that we extend the time that children can be placed in programs when they commit violent offenses, as well as how long we can have jurisdiction over a child that has committed a violent offense,” she said.

Sheriff Mina said that the suspect will be charged with first degree murder for killing Nathacha Augustin, but that he is confident that they will also bring on other charges.

The OCSO released body cam footage of the arrest that shows deputies removing Moses’ firearm from his pants, which they said was still hot to the touch.