Director Joel Souza, who was accidentally wounded by actor Alec Baldwin while filming a motion picture remains in critical condition.
The accident occurred when the actor fired a pistol that was supposed to be loaded with blank cartridges.
According to investigators, the scene being filmed included the use of prop firearms. Detectives are yet to find out how and why the gun fired, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office said.
During the moment of the gunshot, the bullet or shrapnel wounded two people standing nearby. They were director Joel Souza and 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Souza suffered a fracture of the collarbone, while Hutchins, in critical condition, was taken to hospital by air ambulance, where she subsequently died of the wound.
No charges have been filed against the actor yet. Baldwin was not harmed in the incident. The filming was temporarily suspended.
The victim, Halyna Hutchins, was born in 1979 in Ukraine, into a family of a military man, RIA Novosti reports. When a child, she lived in a small town behind the Polar Circle. She graduated from the Department of International Journalism of the Kiev University and then worked with British documentary filmmakers as an investigative journalist.
During the recent years, Hutchins was residing in Los Angeles. As a cinematographer, she worked on such films as
In August 2021, actor Jay Pickett, who starred in Dexter TV show, died on the set of another western film, the Treasure Valley. The cause of death was a heart attack. The actor felt unwell as he was on horseback while waiting for the next scene to be filmed. He died instantly. Pickett was 60 years old.
In July 2019, Irish theater and film actor Karl Shiels, who starred in Batman Begins, fell asleep on the set and died. It was said that before his death, the actor had fallen asleep on the set several times, but no one wondered if he needed help.
In November of 2019, Taiwanese-Canadian actor and supermodel Godfrey Gao died during filming in Eastern China. He fainted on the set and subsequently died at hospital. His cause of death was not announced. Gao was 35.