The film industry has been left shocked and in mourning after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on set when actor and producer Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm.

Ms Hutchins, who was 42, was director of photography for Mr Baldwin's latest movie, Rust, a Western which was being filmed in New Mexico and stars Baldwin, Travis Fimmel and Jensen Ackles.

According to law enforcement statements provided to CNN, Ms Hutchins was shot around 1.50pm on Thursday (local time) and was airlifted to hospital but died of her injuries.

READ MORE: Alec Baldwin expresses grief over shooting as 911 call released

In a tweet on Friday, Mr Baldwin said he was heartbroken and was fully cooperating with police over the tragic accident.

"There 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," Mr Baldwin said.

"My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna."

https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/1451572461787439106https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/1451573351588106246

Her husband, Michael Hutchins, told the Insider he appreciated the sympathy he has received.

"I don't think there are words to communicate the situation," he told the online news website.

"I think that we will need a little bit of time before we can really encapsulate her life in a way that is easy to communicate."

Mr Hutchins said he would not comment on the facts of his wife's death.

She was named a rising star two years ago

Born in Ukraine, Halyna Hutchins lived in Los Angeles and graduated from the American Film Institute in 2015.

She was credited with involvement in the production of 49 film, TV and video titles during her career, according to IMDB.

She worked on movies including Archenemy, starring Joe Manganiello, which was released last year, and was named a rising star by American Cinematographer magazine in 2019.

According to her website, Ms Hutchins was raised at a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle and initially studied as a journalist, graduating from Kyiv National University with a degree in international journalism, before going on to work on documentary productions across Europe and switching to film.

On her Instagram page, she described herself as a "Restless Dreamer. Adrenaline junkie. Cinematographer" and shared photos of the Rust set.

Her final post, on Wednesday (local time), showed a video of her riding on horseback in New Mexico.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVOR_F9jZ0c/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp

Film director James Cullen Bressack commented on her post to say: "I will miss you my friend…. This is devastating."

Other directors paid tribute to Ms Hutchins.

READ MORE: Nine deaths as Melbourne begins first weekend out of lockdown

"Archenemy" director Adam Egypt Mortimer 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." He said in a further tweet she had "a brilliant mind."

AFI Conservatory, a film school which is part of the American Film Institute, tweeted on Friday: "As is profoundly true in the art of cinematography, words alone cannot capture the loss of one so dear to the AFI community. At AFI, we pledge to see that Halyna Hutchins will live on in the spirit of all who strive to see their dreams realized in stories well told."

https://twitter.com/AFIConservatory/status/1451414723254108161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

A talented woman in a male-dominated industry

Ms Hutchins' achievements as a cinematographer were notable in an industry dominated by men.

Casting director, producer and writer Sidra Smith posted on Instagram she was left "devastated" by the news about Hutchins, with whom she worked on the TV miniseries A Luv Tale.

"It's hard out here for women cinematographers and this was a HUGE opportunity for her. She was so young and so talented. Halyna and I spent so much time together. She was so beautifully gracious and words cannot express how supportive she was to me," Ms Smith wrote.

"God bless her beautiful heart and soul."

READ MORE: How prop guns can kill

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVUa6nHsCfP/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp

Director Joel Souza, 48, was also injured in the incident and taken to Christus St. Vincent's Regional Medical Center for care.

Mr Baldwin was photographed looking distraught in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office on Thursday after being questioned.

Investigations remain ongoing, with many people asking how such a tragedy could happen on a film set — 28 years after Bruce Lee's son Brandon Lee was accidentally killed on set by a firearm.

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Ukraine's consulate general in San Francisco was cooperating with US law enforcement representatives as they investigate and was reaching out to Hutchins' relatives "in order to provide the necessary consular and legal assistance."

Festival drug-checking services will get an $800,000 boost from the Government this summer.Health Minister Andrew Little announced on Saturday afternoon that the funding will be for national co-ordination of services, training of…

Test your brains with the Herald’s afternoon quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz for the morning quiz tomorrow. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.

The Government’s new 90 per cent target for Covid-19 vaccinations – which the PM has promised will allow for fewer lockdown restrictions – has specifically not included a separate target for Māori so as not to “vilify” any groups…

Many questions remain unanswered following the death of Brian Laundrie.

But crime experts say the notebook found near his remains in a Florida nature reserve park may shed some light on the circumstances of his disappearance and the violent death of his fiancée, Gabby Petito.

The FBI confirmed on Thursday the remains found in Carlton Reserve in North Port belonged to Laundrie – who vanished last month after Ms Petito was reported missing.

READ MORE: Gabby Petito's parents to be reunited with slain daughter's remains

She was found strangled in a Wyoming national park on September 19.

Law enforcement also found some of Mr Laundrie's personal items in the reserve, including a backpack, a notebook, a dry bag and some clothing.

Mr Laundrie was not charged in Ms Petito's death, although the FBI on Wednesday had described him as a "person of interest" in her murder.

Experts told CNN the notebook believed to be Mr Laundrie's could offer some insight into a story that has grabbed public attention.

"If that notebook contained, for example, information that could have been admissions, it could be projecting blame or rationalisation, all that information could help in the determination," former FBI profiler Jim Clemente said on Thursday.

A source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN the notebook was clearly wet when it was found outside a dry bag authorities located on Wednesday during their search. But it is "possibly salvageable," the source said.

"They are going to use any potential means to dry that out before opening it," the source said. "They'll be very careful with it."

Mark O'Mara, a criminal defence attorney and former prosecutor, told CNN the FBI will have "some luck" retaining some of the notebook due to the advancements of forensic technology.

"So I think there's going to be great information to come from that. Because even if there is bleeding amongst the ink and the pages, they have done a great job with even much older items that they find," Mr O'Mara explained.

Mr Laundrie's family doesn't know what's in the notebook, Steven Bertolino, an attorney for the family, told ABC's "Good Morning America" Friday.

Mr Laundrie's father picked up the bag that was found and immediately turned it over to law enforcement, he said, adding he didn't know if the notebook was in the bag or in the backpack law enforcement found.

Authorities had been searching for Mr Laundrie, 23, for more than a month. He left his parents' home the week after Ms Petito's parents raised the alarm about her disappearance. They had been traveling across the US during the summer.

Asked whether Mr Laundrie told his parents anything about Ms Petito before he disappeared, Mr Bertolino said it was "Not something I can comment on right now."

The family has been cooperating with the FBI in terms of Brian's disappearance "from Day 1," the lawyer said.

But he said, "We have absolutely nothing to say with respect to the Gabby Petito incident."

Determining cause of death can be tricky

But determining Mr Laundrie's cause of death could be challenging as authorities recovered only his skeletal remains and identified him through dental records, the FBI said.

His remains have been given to a forensic anthropologist, Mr Bertolino said on Friday.

Mr Clemente, the former FBI profiler, told CNN it is a possibility Laundrie could have been dead for the entire month authorities have been searching for him.

"It's going to be much more difficult to make a good, solid determination as to the cause and manner of death unless there's some kind of major, serious trauma to the skull that can be identified," Mr Clemente explained.

"There might not be a way to determine how he died. If he drowned, for example, there wouldn't be any evidence of that on his skeleton."

Shortly before the FBI went public with identifying the remains, two local detectives visited the North Port home of Mr Laundrie's parents.

"Chris and Roberta Laundrie have been informed that the remains found yesterday in the reserve are indeed Brian's," Mr Bertolino said on Thursday.

"We have no further comment at this time, and we ask that you respect the Mr Laundrie's privacy at this time."

The parents joined the search on Wednesday morning and found a bag belonging to their son at the park, which their family attorney described as "happenstance."

"They kind of knew his favourite spots. They had told law enforcement from the beginning where Brian would most likely be, in the areas of the park," Mr Bertolino told "Good Morning America."

The area was flooded when they looked earlier, he said.

Asked whether his parents think he committed suicide, Mr Bertolino said he had discussed the possibility with them "several times."

"We just do not know," he said. "Of course, knowing his mental state when he walked out the door, it was always a concern."

Speaking to CNN affiliate WABC on Thursday, the lawyer said the parents "knew that their, their son Brian was grieving."

"Brian had been extremely upset," Mr Bertolino said when asked why his parents thought he was grieving.

"They wish they could have stopped him, they wish they could have, you know, prevented him from going out, but he was intent on leaving," Mr Bertolino said.

Speaking to CNN affiliate WABC on Thursday, the lawyer said the parents "knew that their son Brian was grieving. They knew that he was so upset."

The parents are "a mess," he said. "They are extremely upset, they are extremely distraught is the word I've been using, but I don't think that accurately describes it."

The search has been "treacherous"

The exhaustive search for Mr Laundrie stretched over a month after his parents told police they believed he'd gone to the reserve.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said law enforcement had been searching in "treacherous conditions," including nearly chest-high water full of snakes and alligators.

"These are very, very difficult conditions. You're searching in areas that you just can't walk up and look. It's not like you're searching a house or a car," he said. "These areas are huge and they're covered by water."

Mr Laundrie's remains were found "about 2 to 3 miles (3 – 4.8 kilometres) inside the Carlton Reserve, or about a 45-minute walk" from the entrance at Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, North Port police spokesperson Josh Taylor said.

The Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park is on 160 acres of heavily wooded land in North Port, with trails and a camping area.

The park connects to the Carlton Reserve, a 25,000-acre nature reserve, which has been the primary search location for investigators.

Searchers had previously used swamp buggies, divers and airboats to scour the swampy terrain, but the area has dried out recently due to clearer weather.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Thousands of Kiwis have been affected by a Lotto IT problem which meant more money was withdrawn from their accounts than expected. Lotto confirmed in a statement that leading up to Wednesday’s draw, around 25,000 customers who…

Spring, a blustery norwester and some of the largest sediment deposits in the world can make for some dusty days in and around Ruatoria. Alice Angeloni reports. It’s a hot, sunny day, but when the wind changes, Marijke Warmenhoven…

Alec Baldwin was handed a loaded weapon by an assistant director who indicated it was safe to use in the moments before the actor fatally shot a cinematographer, court records released on Friday show.

The assistant director did not know the prop gun was loaded with live rounds, according to a search warrant filed in a Santa Fe court.

The warrant was issued for the property where the movie Rust was being filmed and will be carefully combing it over the weekend.

READ MORE: Alec Baldwin expresses grief over shooting as 911 call released

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot in the chest on the set of a Western starring Baldwin. Director Joel Souza was wounded.

The records said he was standing behind her.

The warrant was obtained on Friday so that investigators could document the scene at the ranch where the shooting took place.

It notes that Mr Baldwin's blood-stained costume for the film Rust was taken as evidence, as was the weapon that was fired.

Investigators also seized other prop guns and ammunition that were being for the film starring Mr Baldwin.

Earlier in the day, Mr Baldwin described the killing as a "tragic accident."

He was performing at the time of the shooting, the sheriff's office said. It was unclear how many rounds were fired, and little was known about the weapon.

"There 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'm fully cooperating with the police investigation," Mr Baldwin wrote on Twitter. "My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna."

No immediate charges were filed, and sheriff's spokesman Juan Rios said Mr Baldwin was permitted to travel.

"He's a free man," Mr Rios said.

READ MORE: Prop guns: What they are and how they can kill

Images of the 63-year-old actor — known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live — showed him distraught outside the sheriff's 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.

Sheriff's deputies responded about 2pm to the movie set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911 calls described a person being shot there, Mr Rios said.

The ranch has been used in dozens of films, including the recent Tom Hanks Western News of the World.

One of Ms Hutchins' final social media posts was a photo of the Rust 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.

READ MORE: The timeline of Brian Laundrie's disappearance still doesn't jibe among authorities and his family's lawyer

Ms Hutchins, 42, worked as director of photography on the 2020 action film Archenemy starring Joe Manganiello.

She was a 2015 graduate of the American Film Institute and was named a "rising star" by American Cinematographer in 2019.

"I'm so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set," said "Archenemy" director Adam Egypt Mortimer on Twitter.

"She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film."

Mr Manganiello called Ms Hutchins "an incredible talent" and "a great person" on his Instagram account. He said he was lucky to have worked with her.

After the shooting, production was halted on Rust.

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 "The Crow." The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine.

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 "Cover Up."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVNiEl6lJqD/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp

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.

A woman known for 37 years only as Horseshoe Harriet, one of dozen or so victims of a notorious Alaska serial killer, has been identified through genetic genealogy and a DNA match, authorities said.

The victim was identified on Friday as Robin Pelkey, who was 19 and living on the streets of Anchorage when she was killed by Robert Hansen in the early 1980s, the Alaska Bureau of Investigation's Cold Case Investigation Unit said.

"I would like to thank all of the troopers, investigators, and analysts that have diligently worked on this case over the last 37 years. Without their hard work and tenacity, the identity of Ms Pelkey may have never been known," Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell said in a statement.

READ MORE: Alec Baldwin has 'no words' over fatal prop gun shooting

Hansen, who owned a bakery, gained the nickname "Butcher Baker" for abducting and hunting down women — many of them sex workers — in the wilderness just north of Anchorage through the early 1980s, when the state's largest city was booming because of construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline.

The 2013 movie Frozen Ground, starring Nicolas Cage and John Cusack, chronicled the troopers' investigation and capture of Hansen.

Hansen was convicted in the deaths of four women but confessed to killing several more, troopers said.

At one point, he flew with investigators over an area north of Anchorage, where he pointed out where 17 of his victims were buried.

READ MORE: Land search scaled back for missing WA girl

In 1984, Alaska State Troopers returned to those areas, where the remains of eight women were discovered. In total, 12 bodies have been found, and 11 of those have been identified, trooper spokesperson Austin McDaniel said.

The only person not yet identified is known only as Eklutna Annie, who is believed to have been Hansen's first victim, Mr McDaniel said.

Her body was found near Eklutna Lake just north of Anchorage.

Genetic genealogy efforts are underway in hopes of also identifying her, Randy McPherron, an Alaska State Troopers cold case investigator, told The Associated Press.

"We really got our fingers crossed that we may know, find out who Eklutna Annie is," he said, adding the timeframe could take up to a year.

Among the skeletal remains found in 1984, Ms Pelsky was discovered lying on the ground near Horseshoe Lake, near the Little Susitna River just a few miles northwest of Anchorage, troopers said.

There was no ID on the body that became known as Horseshoe Harriet.

Hansen told investigators she was a sex worker he abducted from downtown Anchorage sometime in the winter of 1983.

He told investigators he flew her to the lake in his small airplane, murdered her and discarded the body. He didn't know her name or much else about her.

An autopsy confirmed the body was that of a white woman between the ages of 17 and 23.

There were no missing persons reports that matched, and she was buried in the Anchorage municipal cemetery as an unknown.

The case was reopened in 2014, the same year Hansen died in prison at the age of 75.

The body was exhumed, and samples were sent to create a DNA profile, which was added to the FBI's national missing person database. It didn't provide an identification.

In September 2020, investigators made another attempt to identify the remains using genetic genealogy.

A bone sample was sent to a private lab and additional DNA was extracted and sent for Whole Genome Sequencing, troopers said.

This data was then sent to another lab, where a DNA profile was generated and uploaded into a public access genealogy database in April.

Troopers said several close matches were found and used to create a family tree for the victim.

Research indicated that the victim might be a woman named Robin Pelkey, who was born in Colorado in 1963, troopers said.

Troopers traced her to living in Anchorage in the early 1980s, but no record indicated she was alive after 1984.

Eventually close relatives were located in Arkansas and Alaska. Family members told troopers that Ms Pelkey lived in Anchorage in the late 1970s, but moved to Arkansas as a teenager before returning to Alaska in 1981 to live with her father and stepmother.

Troopers said she wound up living on the streets of Anchorage but had vanished by late 1982 or early 1983.

Relatives told troopers they didn't know for certain why Ms Pelkey's parents, who are now deceased, didn't report her missing.

A DNA match with a close relative in Arkansas confirmed Ms Pelkey's identity and the family was notified in September. Through the troopers, family members said they did not want to be contacted by the media.

"Obviously, I'm very happy to have finally figured out who she is and give her family some closure," Mr McPherron said.

"Genetic genealogy has been quite a great leap forward in solving unsolved homicides but in also identifying people, so this is very satisfying to see it finally come together like this."

Troopers have purchased a new grave marker for Ms Pelkey, McDaniel said.

Northland’s alert level status is hanging by a thread after two new Covid-19 cases in the region – children under 12 – announced today, take the region’s total in the Delta outbreak to four.Northland health officials are urging…