Chris Hondros, N.C. State alumnus, photojournalist and formerAgromeck photographer, has been confirmed dead Wednesday after an attack while covering the front lines in Libya, the Technician has learned.

Getty Images, Hondros’ employer, called his family Wednesday and initially reported he had died after the attack, according to Paul Woolverton, a Fayetteville Observer reporter and former colleague who was with the Hondros family in Fayetteville Wednesday. Woolverton said Getty called the family again Wednesday to report Hondros is still in critical condition, but alive. Later on Wednesday, Getty called the family once again to confirm Hondros has passed away.

“They quit working on him. There was nothing they could do for him,” Woolverton said.

Tim Hetherington, the director of the film Restrepo, was killed in the attack, according to a News & Observer report.

An MSNBC post uploaded around 11:30 a.m. said Hetherington and Hondros were reporting from within the Libyan city of Misratah for the past several days. Pictures on the blog depict rebel fighters battling in the city and carrying wounded soldiers.

Hondros graduated from NCSU in 1993 with a degree in English after spending several years shooting for the Agromeck yearbook. He has returned to the University several times over the past few years to share his photography and mentor local student photographers.