A woman has died after the actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of the new Western movie, Rust. Another man has been injured.

According to New Mexico authorities, the actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm which killed the Director of Photography and injured the film’s director. The events took place on Thursday afternoon (21st October).

The DoP Halyna Hutchins, who was 42, and the director Joel Souza, 48, were injured at around 1:50pm. The set, for the film Rust, is located in Santa Fe County, specifically Bonanza Creek Ranch. The set and filming has since been shut down.

Officers were called to the scene shortly after the incident took place. Hutchins was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital via helicopter, where she later sadly passed away. Mr Souza was taken by ambulance to Christus St Vincent regional medical centre, where he was treated for his injuries. He has since been discharged.

68-year-old Alec Baldwin, who is a producer and actor for Rust, has not been arrested. No arrests have been made so far, and no charges have been filed. The sheriff’s department have stated that there is an investigation ongoing, however.

A spokesperson for Baldwin has said that there was an accident on the set involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks. Detectives are now investigating how the prop misfired, and what exactly it fired, says Juan Rios from the Sheriff’s office.

Halyna Hutchins was a 2015 graduate of the American Film Institute, and had been dubbed a “rising star” by American Cinematographer magazine in 2019. Tributes have been paid on social media by friends and colleagues of Hutchins. The director of the film Archenemy – which Hutchins worked on as DoP -, Adam Egypt Mortimer, has said, “I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set. She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film.”