New York Daily News: MANHATTAN – Alec Baldwin fatally shot a movie crew member with a “prop firearm” during a film shoot in New Mexico, authorities said Thursday.
The shooting also injured the film’s director, a county sheriff’s office spokesman said, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Baldwin was filming a scene for the movie “Rust” when the prop gun went off, said authorities.
“There was an accident today on the New Mexico set of ‘Rust’ involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks,” a spokesperson for Baldwin told People.
At around 1:50 p.m. local time, authorities responded to the Bonanza Creek Ranch after a 911 caller said that “an individual had been shot on set,” the sheriff’s department said.
No charges have yet been filed as police investigate.
Baldwin, 63, was seen in tears, the New Mexican reported.
Halyna Hutchins, the 42-year-old director of photography for the movie, died at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, said the sheriff’s department. The film’s director, Joel Souza, was hospitalized in Santa Fe.
Hutchins was named by American Cinematographer one of the industry’s “Rising Stars of Cinematography 2019.”
According to her website, she was born in Ukraine and “grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines.”
She had a graduate degree in International Journalism from Kyiv National University in Ukraine and previously worked as an investigative journalist with British documentary productions in Europe.
Her films include “Archenemy” starring Joe Manganiello and “Blindfire” starring Brian Geraghty, both released in 2020.
“We received the devastating news this evening, that one of our members, Halyna Hutchins, the Director of Photography on a production called ‘Rust’ in New Mexico died from injuries sustained on the set,” John Lindley, the president of the International Cinematographers Guild Local 600, and Rebecca Rhine, the executive director, said in a statement, Variety reported.
“The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event,” the statement said. “This is a terrible loss, and we mourn the passing of a member of our Guild’s family.”
While investigators have already confirmed that a prop gun was fired, they are still looking to figure out what type of projectile was discharged.
Baldwin is listed as a producer on “Rust,” a story of an outlaw with a bounty on his head. He wrote the story with Souza, and Souza wrote the screenplay.
Prop guns on film sets killed actor Jon-Erik Hexum on the TV series “Cover Up” in 1984 and actor Brandon Lee — the son of Bruce Lee — on the 1993 film “The Crow.”
