Alec Baldwin (68) accidentally shot and killed a crew member while shooting the new western film ‘Rest’. That happened when the well-known Hollywood actor fired a firearm that served as a prop. The director was also seriously injured, the local police confirm.
Police were called to the Bonanza Creek Ranch, a well-known filming location in northern New Mexico, around 1:50 p.m. on Thursday. Someone had been shot on the set of “Rust,” a new western movie starring Alec Baldwin, it was said.
On the spot, it turned out that 42-year-old director of photography Halyna Hutchins had been hit in the stomach. The woman was flown by helicopter to New Mexico University Hospital but died of her injuries. Joel Souza, the 48-year-old director of Rust, was also injured in the incident. He is currently in the intensive care unit at Christ St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, but is not believed to be in a life-threatening condition.
An investigation revealed that Alec Baldwin had fired the fatal shot when the cameras were rolling. Accidentally. “A firearm was used as a prop in one of the scenes,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff said in a press release. “Investigators are still investigating exactly how and what type of projectile was fired.”
It’s not clear for now whether the “fake weapon” was incorrectly loaded with real bullets or whether the gunpowder commonly used in blanks somehow launched a bit of “debris” from the barrel of the weapon.
The 68-year-old actor was questioned but later released. “No one was arrested or charged,” the sheriff said. “Everything points to a tragic accident for the time being. The case is still under investigation, and witness statements are still being taken.”
Baldwin has become particularly popular in the US in recent years for his impersonations of ex-President Donald Trump in the satirical program ‘Saturday Night Live’. Baldwin is also co-producer of Rust. He stars in it alongside Travis Fimmel, Brady Noon, Frances Fisher, and Jensen Ackles. He plays the notorious outlaw Harland Rust, whose grandson has been sentenced to death for the accidental killing of a ranger in the 1880s. Baldwin posted a photo from the set on Instagram earlier today, with fake blood on his stomach: a person working in the office. Damn, it’s exhausting,” it read. The post was taken offline after the incident.
The incident is reminiscent of a similar incident in March 1993, in which Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee’s son, died at the age of 28 during the shooting of the film ‘The crow’. The weapon used then had to contain blanks. But the autopsy revealed that Lee was hit by a bullet that got stuck in the barrel and was released by the blank.