Alec Baldwin discharged prop gun that killed woman on movie set, sheriff says

Actor and producer Alec Baldwin fired the prop gun on a New Mexico movie set that killed the cinematographer and injured the director, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.

Two people were shot Thursday afternoon on the set: cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, and the film‘s director, Joel Souza, 48, according to a statement by the Sheriff’s Office. Hutchins was airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, where she was pronounced dead, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Souza is undergoing treatment for his injuries at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.

The Sheriff’s Office said its deputies were dispatched to the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set, where shooting was underway for the western “Rust.”

No charges have been filed, but the Sheriff’s Office said “witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.”

Baldwin was also producing the movie, and production has been halted.

“We received the devastating news this evening, that one of our members, Halyna Hutchins, the director of photography on a production called ‘Rust’ in New Mexico died from injuries sustained on the set,” the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 600 said in a statement Thursday night.

“The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event. This is a terrible loss, and we mourn the passing of a member of our guild’s family,” said the IATSE local, which represents nearly 8,000 camera workers, including cinematographers.

A spokesperson for Baldwin said there was an accident on the set involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks.

The Santa Fe New Mexican news outlet reported that Baldwin was seen Thursday outside the Sheriff’s Office in tears, but attempts to get comment from him were unsuccessful.

“According to investigators, it appears that the scene being filmed involved the use of a prop firearm when it was discharged,” Sheriff’s Office spokesman Juan Rios told the Albuquerque Journal. “Detectives are investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.”

Deputies responded about 2 p.m. to the movie set at Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911 calls, Rios said.

Filming for “Rust” was set to continue into early November, according to a news release from the New Mexico Film Office.

The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother after the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website. The teen goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather (played by Baldwin) after the boy is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.

In 1993, Brandon Lee, 28, son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee, died after being hit by a .44-caliber slug while filming a death scene for the movie “The Crow.″ The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine.

In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun blank while pretending to play Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum on the set of the television series ″Cover Up.″

The Associated Press contributed to this report.