Alec Baldwin fatally shoots crew member with prop gun on movie set

The director of photography in an Alec Baldwin movie was killed and the film’s director was injured Thursday afternoon when the actor fired a prop firearm on the set of a movie in New Mexico, the authorities said.

Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed and Joel Souza, 48, was injured around 1:50 pm Mountain time on the set of Rust, a Western being filmed in Santa Fe County, Juan Rios, a spokesperson for the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, said. The circumstances of the shooting are under investigation.

Rios said the shooting at Bonanza Creek Ranch happened in the middle of a scene that was either being rehearsed or filmed. He said the Sheriff’s Office was interviewing people on the set to determine how the two had been shot.

“We’re trying to determine right now how and what type of projectile was used in the firearm,” he said.

Rios said Thursday night that the Sheriff’s Office had not filed charges against anyone in connection with the shooting.

Hutchins was flown to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, where she later died, Rios said. Souza was taken to CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe.

A statement from the New Mexico Film Office on Oct. 6 said the movie’s production company, Rust Movie Productions LLC, would employ 75 crew members, 22 actors and 230 “background talent.”

The film’s director and producers and a representative for Baldwin, 63, did not immediately respond to emails or phone calls Thursday night.

On Thursday morning, Baldwin posted a photo on Instagram in his film costume, which included what appeared to be a prosthetic wound on his torso.

Rust is a movie about a 13-year-old boy who goes on the run with his estranged grandfather after the accidental killing of a local rancher, according to IMDb. The movie, which was set to be filmed this month and next month, is directed by Souza and stars Frances Fisher and Baldwin, who is also producing the film.

The shooting echoed an accident on a movie set in 1993 in which the actor Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee’s son, was shot and killed during a scene when a bullet that was lodged in the barrel of a gun was discharged along with a blank cartridge.

Check out latest DH videos here: