According to the police, US actor Alec Baldwin (68) shot with 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.
The incident took place on Thursday while filming the western “Rust” at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico. Baldwin is on board as the main actor and producer in the film. The director is Joel Souza, who previously directed the cop thriller “Crown Vic”.
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 people on the set to see how the two were shot. “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 had published a picture from the set on Instagram in which he was seen in a costume with a wound on his upper body.
“Rust” is a film about a 13-year-old boy on the run with his estranged grandfather after accidentally killing a local rancher. Baldwin is the producer of the film.
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.