Skip to main content
Hamburger Menu Close

Advertisement

Entertainment

Alec Baldwin 'discharged' prop gun that killed cinematographer and injured director on movie set

They were on the set of Rust, a film Baldwin is producing and starring in. 

Alec Baldwin 'discharged' prop gun that killed cinematographer and injured director on movie set
US actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that killed a cinematographer and wounded the director on a film set in New Mexico, US law enforcement officers said October 21, 2021. The incident happened on the set of "Rust" in the southwestern US state, where Baldwin is playing the lead in a 19th-century western. (Photo: Angela Weiss / AFP)

A prop firearm discharged by veteran actor Alec Baldwin, who is producing and starring in a Western movie, killed his director of photography and injured the director on Thursday (Oct 21) at the movie set outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said.

Sheriff’s officials said Halyna Hutchins, director of photography for the movie Rust, and director Joel Souza were shot.

Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead by medical personnel, authorities said.

Souza, 48, was taken by ambulance to Christus St Vincent Regional Medical Center, where he’s undergoing treatment for his injuries.

Production has been halted on the film.

A spokesperson for Baldwin said there was an accident on the set involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks.

The statement from the Sheriff's Office read, "The sheriff’s office confirms that two individuals were shot on the set of Rust. Halyna Hutchins, 42, director of photography and Joel Souza, 48, director, were shot when a prop firearm was discharged by Alec Baldwin, 68, producer and actor." 

This aerial video image provided by KOAT 7 News, shows Santa Fe County Sheriff's Officers responding to the scene of a fatal accidental shooting at a Bonanza Creek, Ranch movie set near Santa Fe, N.M. Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. (KOAT 7 News via AP)

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported the 68-year-old Baldwin was seen on Thursday outside the sheriff’s office in tears, but attempts to get comment from him were unsuccessful.

Deputies responded about 2pm to the movie set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911 calls came in of a person being shot on set, sheriff’s spokesman Juan Rios said.

He said detectives were investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.

“This investigation remains open and active,” Rios said in a statement. “No charges have been filed in regard to this incident. Witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.”

The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website. The teen goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather (played by Baldwin) after the boy is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.

In 1993, Brandon Lee, 28, son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee, died after being hit by a .44-caliber slug while filming a death scene for the movie The Crow. The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine.

In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun blank while pretending to play Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum on the set of the television series Cover Up.

Source: AP/sr

Advertisement

RECOMMENDED

Advertisement