According to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on a movie set, killing the film’s director of photography and wounding the director.
On Thursday afternoon Halyna Hutchins, 42, was transported to the University of New Mexico hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
As for the director, Joel Souza, 48, he is still being treated at Christus St. Vincent Medical Center.
Juan Rios, a spokesman for the sheriff, said that police were dispatched to the Rust movie set location at the Bonanza Creek Ranch at around 2 p.m. after receiving 911 calls of someone being shot.
“According to investigators, it appears that the scene being filmed involved the use of a prop firearm when it was discharged,” Rios told the Albuquerque Journal. “Detectives are investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.”
The investigation is still ongoing, and no charges have been filed in this case, according to the sheriff’s office. Detectives are still interviewing witnesses.
As of now, the production of the movie has been halted.
Baldwin was reportedly spotted crying outside the sheriff’s office on Thursday.
In a statement, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said that the union was “devastated” by the tragic incident.
“This is still an active investigation and we do not yet have all the facts,” they said in a statement. “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.”
Hutchins was a member of the Cinematographers Guild, which later expressed that they were mourning her loss.
The Guild’s National President, John Lindley, and National Executive Director, Rebecca Rhine told Deadline: “The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event.”
