Yahoo Finance Alec Baldwin fatally shoots film crew member with prop gun, New Mexico police say
Alec Baldwin fatally shot a crew member and injured another on Thursday when he discharged a prop gun during filming of a movie, New Mexico officials say.
The actor has not been charged as officials continue to investigate. Detectives were attempting to determine “how and what type of projectile was discharged,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said.
The shooting happened on the set of “Rust,” a Western film set in the 1880s. Baldwin stars in the movie and is also a producer.
Baldwin was “unaware of the type of ammunition in the gun,” Deadline reported. Variety reported Friday the gun contained a “live single round,” citing an email the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees sent members.
Halyna Hutchins, the 42-year-old director of photography for the movie, was shot on the set and died at an Albuquerque hospital, according to the sheriff.
Joel Souza, the film’s director, was also shot and was “receiving emergency care” at a Santa Fe hospital, the sheriff said in a statement. Souza was later released from the hospital, Deadline reported.
Baldwin, known for TV roles on “30 Rock” and portraying former President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” released a statement Friday. He said he is in touch with Hutchins’ husband and his “heart is broken” for him and their son.
“There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” Baldwin said. “I’m fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred.”
Photos shared by the Santa Fe New Mexican show a distraught Baldwin after he was reportedly questioned Thursday by sheriff’s deputies.
How can prop guns be deadly? What to know after fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin movie set
Hutchins was a 2015 graduate from the American Film Institute and in 2019 was named a “rising star” by American Cinematographer.
“She’s a wonderful, positive, creative person that was so excited to be breaking through and making movies,” Michael Pessah, a cinematographer who was a friend of Hutchins, told Variety. “She was really on the upswing.”
I just wanted to share some stills of Halyna Hutchins’ work and take a moment to appreciate how ridiculously difficult it is to become a DOP in the film industry, especially as woman. we’ve lost an incredible artist today pic.twitter.com/xRfjxYGHes
— kenny ♡ (@bvckystjames) October 22, 2021
Adam Egypt Mortimer, the director of “Archenemy,” in which Hutchins was a part of the crew, said on Twitter Thursday he was “so sad about losing Halyna and so infuriated this could happen on a set.”
“Rust” employs about 75 crew members and 22 actors, according to the New Mexico Film Office. It follows a 13-year-old boy who is “left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880’s Kansas, goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather (Baldwin) after he’s sentenced to hanging for the accidental killing of a local rancher.”
Production has reportedly been halted on the film.
