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This undated photo provided by NPR shows Zabihullah Tamanna, left, and David Gilkey. Gilkey, a veteran news photographer and video editor for National Public Radio, and Tamanna, an Afghan translator, were killed while on assignment in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, June 5, 2016, a network spokeswoman said.(Photo: Monika Evstatieva, AP)
DETROIT<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>David P. Gilkey, a former<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Detroit Free Press<span style="color: Red;">*</span>photographer and video editor who built a career out of finding the human side in dire conflicts, was killed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>while on assignment<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for NPR in Afghanistan on Sunday, NPR news<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reported.
Gilkey was traveling with an Afghan army unit when the convoy came under fire and his vehicle was struck, NPR spokeswoman Isabel Lara said in a statement. An Afghan translator, Zabihullah Tamanna, was also killed. Two other NPR journalists traveling with them were unharmed.
USA TODAY
Journalist killings like deaths in the family for viewers
“I cannot think of a better person to face danger with than Gilkey,” said former<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Free Press<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reporter Joe Swickard, who traveled to Fallujah, Iraq, with Gilkey in 2006. “He was at home on a battlefield under fire, in military situations. He kept his cool, and never lost his artist’s eye.”
During his 11 years at the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Free Press, Gilkey became the “driving force” behind a video series that won the newspaper its first Emmy:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Michigan Marines: Band of Brothers,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Swickard said. As a key part of that series Gilkey and Swickard followed the largest unit of Marines from Michigan and chronicled their daily lives in Fallujah.
The project covered the soldiers’ daily routines, their cooking, living conditions, their patrols and combat and their funerals. Gilkey stood out for his ability to bond with his subjects.
He thrived in that environment,” Swickard said. “He understood them, respected them, wanted to tell their stories, and told them without exaggeration.”
Free Press staff members, Nancy Andrews, Stephen McGee, Craig Porter, Hugh Grannum, David Gilkey, Joe Swickard, Kathy Kieliszewski hold the Emmy trophy after winning for the Outstanding Current News Coverage for Broadband.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Tina Fineberg, AP)
That assignment was not without its own intense perils. While following the Marines on patrol, Swickard remembers sitting one humvee behind Gilkey when a rocket lifted Gilkey’s humvee into the air, as it burst into flames.
Yet Gilkey emerged, “cleared his head and started shooting video,” Swickard said. “His dedication to getting the story was extraordinary.”
Detroit Free Press writer, Joe Swickard, left and Detroit Free Press photographer, David Gilkey, right, in Iraq. December 2006<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Family photo)
In his work for NPR, Gilkey traveled to conflicts across the world, including numerous trips to Iraq and Afghanistan. His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the prestigious George Polk Award. The White House Photographers Association named Gilkey Still Photographer of the Year in 2011.
“He was one of the most thoughtful photographers I have ever known,” said Nancy Andrews, a former<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Free Press<span style="color: Red;">*</span>managing editor for digital media in Gilkey’s time at the paper. “On the exterior you had this war photographer who was willing to put himself at great risk to tell stories, and on the other hand you have this really gentle, teddy bear.” She laughed: “I don’t think he’d want to be known as a teddy bear.”
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Andrews also said: “No matter who you were when he photographed you, you got the best of David. … You got the David Gilkey that was 110% there. He wasn’t just on with big stories<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he was on with everyone. That to me is the mark of a great photographer.”
Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Daniel Bethencourt on Twitter: @_dbethencourt
Patti Miles, who has worked with the Detroit Zoo's elephants for 6 years, puts a gentle hand on the head of Winky, a 51-year-old Asian elephant, May 17, 2004 at the zoo in Royal Oak.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: David P. Gilkey, Detroit Free Press)
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