A Timeline Of Accidental Deaths On Hollywood Sets In Wake Of Alec Baldwin Prop Gun Shooting
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) – On Thursday, director of photography Halyna Hutchins was killed when actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun on a movie set in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The shooting occurred on the set of the independent Western movie "Rust."
Hutchins, 42, was rushed by helicopter to a hospital, where she died. The director of "Rust," 42-year-old Joel Souza, was also injured in the shooting, but survived.
The circumstances are under investigation. Its still unclear if Baldwin's gun was loaded with blanks or live ammunition.
There have been several notable accidents on television and film sets over the years, some involving guns.
Here are a few:
- 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."
- 1993: Actor Brandon Lee, son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee, died at the age of 28 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. On Thursday, Lee's sister Shannon tweeted: "Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on 'Rust.' No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period."
- 2014: Assistant camera operator Sarah Jones was struck and killed by a train on the Georgia set of "Midnight Rider," an unreleased film about rock star Gregg Allman. The director, Randall Miller, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and served jail time.
- 2014: While filming "Star Wars: Episode VII," a door of the Millennium Falcon spacecraft fell on actor Harrison Ford and broke his leg, requiring him to undergo surgery.
- 2015: Two pilots were killed and a third injured in a small plane crash on the set of the Tom Cruise movie "American Made" in Columbia. Alan Purwin, a movie and stunt pilot, was killed, along with Venezuelan crew member Carlos Berl. Jimmy Lee Garland ,a pilot from Georgia, was badly hurt, but survived.
- 2017: Stuntwoman Joi "SJ" Harris died on the Vancouver set of "Deadpool 2" while performing a stunt on a motorcycle. Harris hit a curb, was thrown off the bike, and went through a plate glass window, according to eyewitnesses and an official report after the crash.
- 2017: Stuntman John Bernecker died after a 22-foot fall from a balcony on "The Walking Dead" set in Georgia. In 2019, a jury awarded his family more than $8 million in damages in a wrongful death lawsuit.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)