Alec Baldwin Kills Woman On Movie Set With Prop Gun, Wounds Director Of Film
Alec Baldwin was in New Mexico filming his new movie Rust when a prop gun he was using went off and killed a woman on the crew and wounded the director. Baldwin was filming a scene for his new western flick, where he plays an outlaw, and fired the prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza according to authorities.
Hutchins, 42, was transported by helicopter to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque where she died from her wounds. Souza, 48, was given emergency treatment at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe.
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office said Hutchins and Souza “were shot when a prop firearm was discharged by Alec Baldwin.” The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that Baldwin was in tears outside the sheriff’s office where he was questioned by investigators.
Sheriff’s office spokesman Juan Ríos said, “We’re treating this as we would any other investigation.”
Rust Movie Productions said, “Production has been halted for the time being, the safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority.”
No charges have been filed in the shooting.
Fran Drescher, president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said: “We are devastated by this tragic news. Our hearts go out to the family of Director of Photography Halyna Hutchins who has passed away and to Director Joel Souza who is injured and hospitalized.
“This is still an active investigation and we do not yet have all the facts. We will continue to work with production, the other unions, and the authorities to investigate this incident and to understand how to prevent such a thing from happening again.”
From ABC:
Deputies with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office responded to the film set around 2 p.m. local time after a 911 caller “reported a shooting on the set,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Two people were shot after a prop firearm was discharged during filming, authorities said. Baldwin fired the prop gun, striking the film’s director, Joel Souza, and director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, the sheriff’s office said in a follow-up statement Thursday night.
Detectives are still determining “how and what type of projectile was discharged,” the sheriff’s office said earlier.
Hutchins was a Los Angeles-based cinematographer from Ukraine who grew up on a Soviet military base within the Arctic Circle, according to her website.
She earned a degree in international journalism from Kyiv National University in Ukraine and had worked as an investigative journalist with British documentary productions in Europe.
She graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory in 2015 and would go on to earn a spot as one of American Cinematographer‘s Rising Stars of 2019 and cinematographer for the 21st Century Fox DP Lab in 2018, her website said.
Most recently, Hutchins served as director of photography for feature film Archenemy, starring Joe Manganiello, Blindfire, a racially charged cop drama starring Brian Geraghty, and Darlin’, a horror feature.
Hutchins was also a member of the International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600.
In a Tuesday post on Facebook, Hutchins’ page featured a photo that showed the cast, including Baldwin, on the set. It said, “Our IATSE solidarity stand on RUST.”
One Woman Killed, One Man Wounded in Accidental Shooting on Alec Baldwin "Wild" Western ‘Rust’ pic.twitter.com/u2nmNnoqHY
— Alexander Hansen (@AlexanderXV) October 22, 2021
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed in an incident involving a prop gun on the set of “Rust,” an Alec Baldwin film that was shooting in New Mexico on Thursday. https://t.co/7Xybp84H8M pic.twitter.com/3gz6pDvePz
— Variety (@Variety) October 22, 2021