Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was struck in the chest and died shortly after being shot at with a prop gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin on the film set of “Rust”.
Ukraine-born cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was struck in the chest and died shortly after the incident Thursday in New Mexico, while director Joel Souza, 48, who was crouching behind her as they lined up a shot, was wounded and hospitalized, then released. The man, 48-year-old director Joel Souza, was taken from the scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch by ambulance.
Police said they were investigating and that no charges had been filed.
A spokesman for Mr Baldwin, best known for his role as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock and for his portrayal of Donald Trump on sketch show Saturday Night Live, said the incident had involved the misfiring of a prop gun with blanks.
“He came in voluntarily and he left the building after he finished his interviews,” the spokesman said.
Police are trying to establish what type of projectile left the prop gun and how. Mr Baldwin was seen outside the sheriff’s office in tears, local media reported.
The actor is a co-producer of the film and plays its namesake, an outlaw whose 13-year-old grandson is convicted of manslaughter.
The eldest of four brothers, all actors, Mr Baldwin has starred in numerous TV and film roles since the 1980s.
Ms Hutchins was from Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle, according to her personal website. She studied journalism in Kyiv, and film in Los Angeles, and was named a “rising star” by the American Cinematographer magazine in 2019.
She was the director of photography for the 2020 action film Archenemy, directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer.
Real firearms are often used in filming, and are loaded with blanks – cartridges that create a flash and a bang without discharging a projectile.
In 1993, Brandon Lee – the 28-year-old son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee – died on set after being accidentally shot with a prop gun while filming a death scene for the film The Crow. The gun mistakenly had a dummy round loaded in it.
Responding to Thursday’s news, Brandon Lee’s sister Shannon tweeted: “Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on ‘Rust’. No-one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period.”
