Evan Wright, the author of the book “Generation Kill,” who rose to prominence as a journalist when he embedded himself with the U.S. Marines during the Iraq War, has died at the age of 59.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office listed Wright’s cause of death on Friday as a gunshot wound to the head. He reportedly died by suicide.
The Rolling Stone says Wright’s 2003 series of articles on the Iraq War, titled “The Killer Elite” for the magazine, won him a National Magazine Award for Excellence in Reporting the following year.
Wright then would expand upon his reporting in the book “Generation Kill,” which was later adapted into an HBO miniseries, according to Rolling Stone.
Author Evan Wright poses with his award at the PEN USA Annual LitFest Awards Gala at the Biltmore Hotel in November 2005 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
“We’ve lost a fine journalist and storyteller. Evan’s contributions to the scripting and filming of ‘Generation Kill’ were elemental,” David Simon, one of the writers for the show, wrote on X regarding Wright’s death. “He was charming, funny and not a little bit feral, as many reporters are.”
“I knew Evan as a good and gentle guy in a place that was neither good nor gentle,” Lt. Nathan Fick – whom the Rolling Stone says was featured prominently in “The Killer Elite,” said in a statement.
“A few days before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, my commanding officer told me that a journalist from Rolling Stone would be riding with my platoon. I was upset. At best, he would be a distraction; at worst, a threat,” Fick said.
“After our first close-quarters firefight, I found Evan Wright counting bullet holes in the door next to his seat. He could have left at any time, gone back to Kuwait to check into a nice hotel and file his story, but he didn’t. Instead, he spent many nights at the forward edge of the entire U.S. invasion,” Fick also said. “He wasn’t a Marine, but many of us who spent March and April, 2003 alongside him have thought of Evan for the past two decades as one of us. Rest in peace, brother.”
Wright also wrote the books “How to Get Away with Murder in America,” described by Amazon as the “extraordinary, true account of an FBI murder investigation of a top-ranking CIA officer” – and “American Desperado: My Life — From Mafia Soldier to Cocaine Cowboy to Secret Government Asset” with Jon Roberts, detailing the letters “rise to become the Medellin Cartel’s most effective smuggler.”
Just prior to his death, Wright, on his account on X, was promoting the Max series “Teen Torture, Inc.,” which he was interviewed for, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Warner Bros. Discovery says the documentary series “follows ongoing efforts to expose America’s ‘troubled teen’ industry,” which “has used what it calls ‘tough love’ as a form of treatment despite numerous deaths, countless suicides, life-altering injuries, and instances of child sexual abuse.”
Wright is survived by his wife and three children.