Brandon Lee’s sister speaks out after cinematographer killed on Rust set by prop gun discharged by Alec Baldwin

Halyna Hutchins was pronounced dead at hospital (Picture: Instagram)

Brandon Lee’s sister has spoken out after the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was shot by a prop gun discharged by Alec Baldwin on set.

Hutchins, 42, was injured when a prop gun was discharged by Baldwin, 63, on the set of the Western movie Rust.

She was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital by helicopter, and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Shannon Lee, the daughter of martial arts legend Bruce Lee and brother of late film star Brandon, paid her condolences to Hutchins’ family following the tragedy.

A post from the official Brandon Bruce Lee Twitter account, which Shannon runs, read: ‘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.’

Brandon Lee died when he was 28 years old after a similar incident on the set of The Crow.

The actor had been filming a scene where his character was shot when he was struck in the abdomen by an improperly made dummy round.

Prior to the scene, the gun was loaded with the cartridges with the powder charges removed, but the primers had not been, and after one of the rounds was fired, a bullet was pushed into the gun barrel and had become stuck.

When the gun, which was loaded with blank rounds for the actual scene, was fired by actor Michael Massee, who played Funboy, during filming, a blank round was fired and dislodged the bullet with almost the same force as if the round was live.

After Lee fell backwards, the crew thought he was still acting before realising he had been shot.

Brandon Lee died in a prop gun accident (Picture: Barry King/WireImage)

The actor was rushed to hospital and underwent six hours of surgery but was pronounced dead on March 31, 1993.

His death was ruled an accident due to negligence.

Michael Massee, who died in 2016 aged 64, took a year off from acting and never saw The Crow, which was released posthumously, having been traumatised by the tragedy.

In an interview with Extra 15 years later, he said: ‘I just took a year off and I went back to New York and didn’t do anything. I didn’t work. What happened to Brandon was a tragic accident… I don’t think you ever get over something like that.’

Another on set firearm accident led to the death of actor Jon-Erik Hexum in 1984.

During a break in filming for the CBS series Cover Up, Hexum was playing with a firearm, not realising a blank was still in the prop gun, and accidentally shot himself.

Alec Baldwin misfired the gun (Picture: Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for National Geographic)

The 26-year-old died six days later from his injuries.

The Santa Fe Police Department is investigating the death of Hutchins, and confirmed that no charges have been filed.

A statement read: ‘According to investigators it appears that the scene being filmed involved the use of a prop firearm when it was discharged. Detectives are investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.’

Rust’s director Joel Souza, 48, was also injured, and was in critical condition when he was taken to Christus St Vinent Regional Medical Centre.

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A spokesperson for Rust said: ‘The entire cast and crew has been absolutely devastated by today’s tragedy, and we send our deepest condolences to Halyna’s family and loved ones. We have halted production on the film for an undetermined period of time and are fully cooperating with the Santa Fe Police Department’s investigation. We will be providing counselling services to everyone connected to the film as we work to process this awful event.’

Baldwin has yet to comment on the incident.

Hutchins was born in the Ukraine and lived in Los Angeles, and graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory in 2015.

She previously worked on the indie films Archenemy, Blindfire and The Mad Hatter.

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