According to the police, US actor Alec Baldwin shot a prop weapon during a film shoot and hit two people. The 42-year-old camerawoman Halyna Hutchins was fatally injured, it said on Thursday in a statement from the Santa Fe police in the state of New Mexico. Director Joel Souza, 48, was injured and is being treated in a hospital. The investigation into the incident continues.
This happened on Thursday while filming the western “Rust” at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico. Baldwin, 63, stars and produces the film. The director is Joel Souza, who previously directed the cop thriller “Crown Vic”.
Director Joel Souza was taken to Christ St. Vincent Medical Center in Santa Fe for treatment.
(Photo: Sam Wasson / AFP)
Santa Fe Police Department spokesman Juan Rios said the shots were fired in the middle of a scene that was either rehearsing or being filmed. The sheriff’s office interviewed eyewitnesses on the set to determine how the incident came about. “We are just trying to find out how and what type of projectile was used in the firearm,” he said. So far, no one has been taken into custody, not even the shooter.
On Thursday, Baldwin posted a picture from the set on Instagram, in which he wears western clothes, a gray beard and has a wound on his upper body. He plays the bandit Harland Rust who has a bounty on his head. Together with his 13-year-old grandson, he has to flee from bounty hunters and law enforcement officers. The cast includes Frances Fisher, Jensen Ackles, Brady Noon and Travis Fimmel.
The case is reminiscent of an accident in 1993, when actor Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee’s son, was shot dead during a scene when a bullet stuck in the barrel of a gun was fired along with an empty cartridge.