Alec Baldwin said Friday that the killing of a cinematographer who died after Baldwin fired a prop gun on a movie set was a \u201ctragic accident,\u201d as authorities investigated the shooting, \u2026<\/b>
\nSANTA FE, N.M. \u2014 Alec Baldwin said Friday that the killing of a cinematographer who died after Baldwin fired a prop gun on a movie set was a \u201ctragic accident,\u201d as authorities investigated the shooting, which also wounded the director. Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer on the Western \u201cRust,\u201d and director Joel Souza were shot Thursday in the desert on the outskirts of Santa Fe. A spokesperson for Baldwin said a prop gun with blanks misfired. A spokesman for the Santa Fe County sheriff said detectives were investigating what type of projectile was discharged and how. No immediate charges were filed. It was not clear if Baldwin was performing at the time of the shooting or how many rounds were fired, and little was known about the weapon. \u201cThere are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I\u2019m fully cooperating with the police investigation,\u201d Baldwin wrote on Twitter. \u201cMy heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.\u201d Sheriff\u2019s spokesman Juan Rios said detectives were at the set Friday morning gathering evidence and information. Baldwin is permitted to travel, he said. \u201cHe\u2019s a free man,\u201d Rios said. Images of the 63-year-old actor \u2014 known for his roles in \u201c30 Rock\u201d and \u201cThe Hunt for Red October\u201d and his impression of former President Donald Trump on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d \u2014 showed him distraught outside the sheriff\u2019s office on Thursday. Guns used in making movies are sometimes real weapons that can fire either bullets or blanks, which are gunpowder charges that produce a flash and a bang but no deadly projectile. However, even blanks can eject hot gases and paper or plastic wadding from the barrel that can be lethal at close range. That proved to be the case in the death of an actor in 1984. In another on-set accident in 1993, the actor Brandon Lee was killed after a bullet was left in a prop gun, and similar shootings have occurred involving stage weapons that were loaded with live rounds. Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience. Hutchins,42, was airlifted to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Souza,48, who was wounded in the collarbone area, was taken by ambulance to a medical center. Sheriff\u2019s deputies responded about 2 p.m. to the movie set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911 calls described a person being shot there, Rios said. The ranch has been used in dozens of films, including the recent Tom Hanks Western \u201cNews of the World.\u201d \u201cThis investigation remains open and active,\u201d Rios said in a statement. One of Hutchins\u2019 final social media posts was a photo of the \u201cRust\u201d actors standing together in solidarity with crew members. She belonged to the IATSE union that represents crew members. The union is to vote soon on a new contract with producers after threatening to strike in recent weeks over issues including long hours and on-set safety. Hutchins, a 2015 graduate of the American Film Institute, worked as director of photography on the 2020 action film \u201cArchenemy\u201d starring Joe Manganiello. She was named a \u201crising star\u201d by American Cinematographer in 2019. \u201cI\u2019m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set,\u201d said \u201cArchenemy\u201d director Adam Egypt Mortimer on Twitter. \u201cShe was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film.\u201d Manganiello called Hutchins \u201can incredible talent\u201d and \u201ca great person\u201d on his Instagram account. He said he was lucky to have worked with her. Hutchins had Ukrainian citizenship, according to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko. The country\u2019s consulate in San Francisco was working with U.S. law enforcement officials. Baldwin teamed up as a producer with Souza on the 2019 film \u201cCrown Vic,\u201d which starred Thomas Jane as a veteran Los Angeles police officer on a manhunt for two bank robbers. Souza\u2019s first credited film,2010\u2019s \u201cHanna\u2019s Gold,\u201d was a treasure hunt adventure featuring Luke Perry. After the shooting, production was halted on \u201cRust.\u201d The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following 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. Lee, son of martial arts star Bruce Lee, died in 1993 after being hit by a.44-caliber slug while filming a death scene for the movie \u201cThe Crow.\u201d The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine. A Twitter account run by Lee\u2019s sister Shannon said: \u201cOur hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on \u2018Rust.\u2019 No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period.\u201d 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 \u201cCover Up.\u201d Such shootings have also happened during historical reenactments. In 2015, an actor staging a historical gunfight in Tombstone, Arizona, was shot and wounded with a live round during a show that was supposed to use blanks. In Hill City, South Dakota, a tourist town that recreates an Old West experience, three spectators were wounded in 2011 when a re-enactor fired real bullets instead of blanks. ___ Berry reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writers Jake Coyle and Jocelyn Noveck in New York, Lizzie Knight in London, Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles contributed to this report. 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