Brandon Lee’s Sister Speaks Out on ‘Rust’ Accident: “No One Should Ever Be Killed By a Gun On a Film Set”

The family of Brandon Lee, who was the victim of a fatal prop gun misfire in 1993, spoke out on the tragic incident that killed Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on set, which killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.

In a tweet from the late Brandon Lee’s official account, which is run by his sister Shannon Lee, the family wrote, “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, the son of martial artist and film star Bruce Lee, died when he was fatally shot by a prop gun in 1993 while filming the gothic superhero film The Crow. Lee, who was 28 years old, was filming a scene in which his character was shot by actor Michael Massee with a revolver. Reportedly, the crew continued to film after Lee was shot, not realizing until Lee failed to get up when the director called cut that he really had been shot.

An ambulance was called, and Lee was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent hours-long surgery and ultimately died due to “disseminated intravascular coagulopathy,” or excessive internal bleeding.

According to a 2014 interview with firearms safety specialist Dave Brown, the production team behind The Crow made a number of safety mistakes. Real cartridges were purchased from a local gun shop for a close-up scene of the gun being loaded, rather than dummy cartridges that should have been used. They then took the bullets out of the cartridge, emptied them of gun powder, and reloaded the bullets in the cartridge. “Any firearms expert would be able to tell you that this is highly dangerous because, of course, the primers were still live,” Brown said, “but unfortunately they were running out of both time and money at this point and had already sent their only firearms expert home early to save a few dollars.”

Later, when the same gun was loaded with blanks used for the scene that would ultimately kill Lee, a bullet was still mistakenly lodged in the cartridge. And this time, there was gunpowder.

“A blank has as much as twice the amount of gunpowder as a real cartridge,” Brown explained. “When that bullet was still lodged in the barrel from two weeks previous, the blank propelled the bullet out the barrel with the same explosive force as a real cartridge. The bullet struck Brandon Lee in the chest and he collapsed, never regaining consciousness. He died on the operating room table 13 hours later.”

According to a New York Times report, no criminal charges were filed over Lee’s death because District Attorney Jerry Spivey found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the investigation.

But Lee’s mother, Linda Lee Cadwell, filed a lawsuit against the filmmakers for negligence on set, which was later settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Fatal prop gun accidents are rare, but not entirely unheard of. Prior to Lee’s death, actor Jon-Erik Hexum, the star of the CBS series Cover Up, died on set in 1984 after shooting himself with a gun loaded with blanks while joking around on set. According to Entertainment Weekly, Hexum heard there would be delays in filming, and reportedly joked, “Can you believe this crap?” and then held the gun to his head pulled the trigger. No bullet was fired in that instance, but the impact of the blast fractured his skull and ultimately killed him. He was 26 years old.

It will likely be a while before more details emerge concerning the incident on Rust. As firearms expert Brown said in his interview with Film Courage, “Serious incidents are often caused by a chain of contributing factors, and in almost every case, one could have broken that chain if someone—anyone—had simply asked the right question.”