Bills filed by two Democratic state lawmakers would require law enforcement agencies in Florida to alert nearby schools and child care facilities when the suspect in a killing or violent crime poses an imminent threat.
Those imminent threat alerts would be called YaYa Alerts in honor of 9-year-old T'yonna Major, who was shot to death in Pine Hills near Orlando in February 2023.
T'yonna's mom had picked her up from Pine Hills Elementary and brought her home that afternoon. They had no idea that a man had fatally shot 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin down the street and escaped just hours earlier.
Authorities say he came out of hiding, shot and killed 24-year-old TV reporter Dylan Lyons, injured a cameraman and then entered T'yonna's home, killed her and injured her mom.
Keith Melvin Moses, 22, was later arrested and is awaiting trial on murder, attempted murder and other charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
The proposed legislation -- HB 715 and SB 814 -- would have required the Sheriff's Office to notify T'yonna's school for a possible lockdown -- and any other school or child care facility within three miles.
Imminent threat alerts would also go out to the community through the emergency alert system.
"Her mom, you know, when we sat down and talked with her," said House sponsor Rep. RaShon Young of Orange County, "she really explained that if she had known that the suspect was still on the loose, if she had known that ... law enforcement were still actively trying to find him, she wouldn't have taken her home."
Young said the family played a role in improving the language in an earlier bill -- filed by Republican Sen. David Simmons in 2020 -- that failed to pass.
T'yonna's aunt Angel Grantley said the YaYa Alerts Act would mean a great deal to her.
"It's just not about Pine Hills," she said. "This is about Orlando. This is about Florida, period. You know, this is about saving all the kids."
Sen. Shevrin Jones of Miami-Dade County is the Senate sponsor.
"The hope now," he said, "is that we can get this across the finish line, because now we have a family behind us to be able to share their story that can capture the hearts of the leadership in both House and Senate."
It's not just an idea now, Jones said, but someone's "real, lived experience."
