Photojournalist and visiting professor at King’s College London (KCL) Paul Lowe was fatally stabbed in California’s San Gabriel Mountains on 12 October 2024.
His son, Emir Abadzic Lowe, is charged with one count of murder, according to local authorities.
Paul Lowe was a Visiting Professor at the Department of War Studies, working closely with their Arts and Reconciliation team. Mr Lowe also taught Photojournalism at the University of the Arts London and was a Reader in Documentary Photography at VII Academy.
As a photojournalist, Lowe was famed for his pictures of the siege in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the destruction of the Chechen town of Grozny, among other conflicts.
“His boundless energy, warmth, creativity, initiative and enthusiasm were contagious and uniquely inspiring”, share his colleagues at the KCL Art and Reconciliation team.
“He was a fountain of support for so many photographers. Wise, ethical and decent”, writes photographer Edward Thompson on X.
Death
A passer-by alerted the San Bernardino County Fire Department about an assault around 15:28 near Mt Baldy. Authorities pronounced Lowe dead at the scene. He was 60.
A man later identified as Mr Lowe’s 19-year-old son Emir Abadzic Lowe was seen speeding away before crashing a few miles down Mt. Baldy road.
He was detained at San Dimas Station and arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on 13 October.
Emir Abadzic Lowe has been charged with one count of murder in Los Angeles County. He is sitting in prison on $2 million bail. An initial hearing was scheduled for 16 October to formally read the charge held against him.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told Roar that the procedure has been pushed to 9 December 2024.
Roar was unable to obtain any further information about the motives or evidence surrounding Lowe’s death. If convicted, his son may face up to 25-to-life plus one year in state prison.
Lowe’s wife, Amra Abadzic Lowe, shared with The New York Times that Lowe’s son had struggled with his mental health for a long time and was repeatedly hospitalised for psychosis over the past year.
His Memory
Mr Lowe was an award-winning photographer, providing key coverage of the Bosnian War in the Balkans, famine in Africa, Nelson Mandela’s release and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Paul Lowe was part of the War Studies department at KCL. The department shared a statement upon his death:
“We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Professor Paul Lowe, a brilliant photojournalist and cherished colleague… He will be deeply missed.”
You can watch an excerpt of a conversation with Prof Paul Lowe, hosted at King’s in 2019, here.
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