Alec Baldwin fires prop firearm, kills woman on a New Mexico movie set

SANTA FE, N.M. – A prop firearm discharged by seasoned histrion Alec Baldwin, who is starring and producing a Western movie, killed his manager of photography and injured the manager Thursday astatine the movie acceptable extracurricular Santa Fe, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said.

Sheriff’s officials said Halyna Hutchins, manager of photography for the movie “Rust,” and manager Joel Souza were shot.

Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital, wherever she was pronounced dormant by aesculapian personnel, authorities said.

Souza, 48, was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, wherever he’s undergoing attraction for his injuries.

Production has been halted connected the film.

A spokesperson for Baldwin said determination was an mishap connected the acceptable involving the misfire of a prop weapon with blanks.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported the 68-year-old Baldwin was seen Thursday extracurricular the sheriff’s bureau successful tears, but attempts to get remark from him were unsuccessful.

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The International Cinematographers Guild confirmed that the pistillate fatally changeable was Hutchins, a cinematographer.

“The details are unclear astatine this moment, but we are moving to larn more, and we enactment a afloat probe into this tragic event,” guild president John Lindley and enforcement manager Rebecca Rhine said successful a statement.

Hutchins, 42, was manager of photography connected the 2020 enactment movie “Archenemy,” starring Joe Manganiello. A 2015 postgraduate of the American Film Institute, she was named a “rising star” by American Cinematographer successful 2019.

“I’m truthful bittersweet astir losing Halyna. And truthful infuriated that this could hap connected a set,” said “Archenemy” manager Adam Egypt Mortimer connected Twitter. “She was a superb endowment who was perfectly committed to creation and to film.”

Deputies responded astir 2 p.m. to the movie acceptable astatine the Bonanza Creek Ranch aft 911 calls came successful of a idiosyncratic being changeable connected set, sheriff’s spokesperson Juan Rios said.

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He said detectives were investigating however and what benignant of projectile was discharged.

“This probe remains unfastened and active,” Rios said successful a statement. “No charges person been filed successful respect to this incident. Witnesses proceed to beryllium interviewed by detectives.”

Filming for “Rust” was acceptable to proceed into aboriginal November, according to a quality merchandise from the New Mexico Film Office.

The movie is astir a 13-year-old lad who is near to fend for himself and his younger member pursuing the decease of their parents successful 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website. The teen goes connected the tally with his long-estranged gramps (played by Baldwin) aft the lad is sentenced to bent for the accidental sidesplitting of a section rancher.

In 1993, Brandon Lee, 28, lad of the precocious martial-arts prima Bruce Lee, died aft being deed by a .44-caliber slug portion filming a decease country for the movie “The Crow.″ The weapon was expected to person fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a slug lodged adjacent his spine.

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In 1984, histrion Jon-Erik Hexum died aft shooting himself successful the caput with a prop weapon blank portion pretending to play Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum connected the acceptable of the tv bid ″Cover Up.″

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Associated Press writers Walter Berry and Jake Coyle contributed to this report.

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