By: Will Kennedy
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark (UATV) — Filmmaker, Brent Renaud, 50, was killed by Russian forces, Sunday, March 13, near Irpin, Ukraine, located north of the capitol city Kyiv.
Another journalist was with Renaud when the shooting happened.
“We crossed the first bridge in Irpin,” U.S. photojournalist Juan Arredondo said. “We were on our way to film other [Ukraine] refugees leaving. Somebody offered to take us to the other bridge. We crossed a checkpoint and [Russian forces] they started shooting at us. The driver turned around and [forces] kept shooting at the two of us, my friend is Brent Renaud, and he has been shot and left behind. I saw he was shot in the neck and we got split [up].”
Arredondo was then transferred to a Kyiv hospital, according to a video released by OHMATDYT.
Renaud, an Arkansas native who was born in Little Rock, had an impact on those who personally knew him and his work.
In 2014, he and his brother won a Peabody award for their documentary film about Chicago public schools.
He was a Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University. In the fall of 2019, he was a J. William Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences Visiting Professor at the U of A Center for Ethics.
Renaud was killed Sunday, March 13, while on assignment with TIME Magazine covering the refugee conflict in Ukraine. Below is the statement TIME released about his death.
“We are devastated by the loss of Brent Renaud. As an award-winning filmmaker and journalist, Brent tackled the toughest stories around the world often alongside his brother Craig Renaud. In recent weeks, Brent was in the region working on a TIME Studios project focused on the global refugee crisis. Our hearts are with all of Brent’s loved ones. It is essential that journalists are able to safely cover this ongoing invasion and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.”