ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – During a press conference at the UCF Athletics department, Gus Malzahn, the Knights head football coach talked about American journalist and filmmaker Brent Renaud, who was killed when Russian troops opened fire just outside the capital, Kyiv, according to Ukrainian police.
“Brent first of all was an outstanding individual. He spent a lot of time with our coaches and our players,” Malzahn said. “You could just tell he was a true professional and he just had that ability to connect with players and coaches; did a super job. I mean, it’s sad — sad to hear that. Kind of caught us off guard, I think it did everybody yesterday.”
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The 50-year-old journalist was the director of ESPN’s “Our Time: UCF Football,” a documentary series with behind-the-scenes looks at all aspects of Malzahn’s first season at UCF.
“I told our team in our team meeting and a lot of ‘em got close to him, we’re just praying for his family,” Malzahn said.
Reactions from UCF’s Athletics department were shared on social media as well. Terry Mohajir, director of the department praised the work done by Renaud for the series.
Juan Arredondo, a U.S. documentary filmmaker, said from a hospital where he was being treated that he was with Renaud when they came under attack in Irpin.
“We crossed the first bridge in Irpin, we were going to film other refugees leaving. And we go onto a car, somebody offered to take us to the other bridge and we crossed a checkpoint and they start shooting at us. So the driver turn around and they kept shooting.,” Arredondo said.
Renaud was gathering material for a report about refugees when his vehicle was hit at a checkpoint in Irpin, just outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said the area has sustained intense shelling by Russian forces in recent days.
Renaud was one of the most respected independent producers of his era, said Christof Putzel, a filmmaker and close friend who had received a text from Renaud just three days before his death. Renaud and Putzel won a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University journalism award for “Arming the Mexican Cartels,” a documentary on how guns trafficked from the United States fueled rampant drug gang violence.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.