In an incredibly heart-wrenching breaking news story, Alec Baldwin has accidentally fatally wounded cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when he fired a prop gun during the filming of his upcoming movie, Rust. Director Joel Souza was also injured during the incident, but we understand he has now been discharged from hospital and was not seriously harmed. The filming was taking place on location near Santa Fe, New Mexico, when the world-famous actor fired a prop gun loaded with blanks.
Some of the details are unclear but potentially some fault with the blank bullet caused it to crack or something lodged inside the barrel of the prop gun was propelled when Baldwin discharged the firearm. Ms Hutchins was transported to hospital via helicopter but sadly was pronounced dead by hospital personnel.
This is not the first time an accident has caused a death on set. According to the Associated Press (AP), in the United States alone there have been 43 fatalities on movie sets since 1990. Prop guns have been known to occasionally misfire, and this latest incident has triggered fierce debate about the use of real guns with blanks as prop guns in film making. Prop guns used on set can be toy or model guns, decommissioned guns with no firing pin, or real guns loaded with blanks; it is now being suggested that the latter is too dangerous to keep using.
Famously, Brandon Lee, son of world-famous action star and martial artist Bruce Lee, was killed in 1993 on the set of The Crow when an actor discharged a gun he believed was loaded with blanks. Many have expressed outrage that legislation has not since been put in place to prevent this.
Baldwin is reported to be distraught and was seen in tears outside the Sherriff’s office. He has voluntarily giving full statements to the officers in the ongoing investigation, but no arrests have been made and no charges have been filed. We can only hope more is done to prevent such tragic incidents from happening again in the future and send our prayers to the family of Hutchins in this terrible time. We wish Souza a speedy recovery and send Baldwin our best wishes too. The production has been put on hold temporarily so hopefully the actors and staff can take a break following this traumatic incident.