Producer and actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that killed a woman and injured a man on the set of the movie “Rust” in New Mexico on Thursday, Santa Fe County sheriff’s office said.
The film’s director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed, and Joel Souza, 48, was injured when Baldwin, 63, discharged a prop firearm, the sheriff’s office said in a statement Thursday evening.
Souza was taken to the hospital by ambulance and was receiving emergency care, officials said.
“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 said in a statement. “Production has been halted for the time being. The safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority.”
A representative for Baldwin declined to comment further.
Hutchins’ representative declined to comment. She was flown by helicopter to University of New Mexico Hospital where she was pronounced dead, the sheriff’s office said.
No charges have been filed, the sheriff’s office said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
Bonanza Creek Ranch is often used for Western productions. Aerial video from NBC affiliate KOB of Albuquerque showed an old church that appeared to be blocked off.
The film centers on a 13-year-old boy who goes on the run with his estranged grandfather after he is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a rancher in the 1880s, according to the movie’s logline.
How the deadly accident Thursday in New Mexico occurred was not entirely clear.
In 1993, “The Crow” actor Brandon Lee died in a filming accident after he was shot with a prop gun. The son of martial-arts film icon Bruce Lee was 28.
In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a gun loaded with blank and empty cartridges on the set of the “Cover-Up” TV series, UPI reported at the time.
