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Cinematographer shot on US movie set was Ukrainian national, Kiev diplomat confirms

The shooting incident occurred on the set of Hollywood star Alec Baldwin's Western movie Rust in the southwestern US state of New Mexico on Thursday

Filming location of Western movie Rust REUTERS/Adria Malcolm

Filming location of Western movie Rust

© REUTERS/Adria Malcolm

KIEV, October 22. /TASS/. Director of Photography Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot on a movie set in the United States, was a Ukrainian national, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Friday.

"The consuls [of Ukraine in San Francisco] are also getting in touch with the Ukrainian woman’s relatives in order to provide them with all the necessary consular and legal assistance," Nikolenko told the RBC Ukraine news agency.

According to Nikolenko, Kiev has already received confirmation that Hutchins holds Ukrainian citizenship.

The shooting incident occurred on the set of Hollywood star Alec Baldwin's Western movie Rust in the southwestern US state of New Mexico on Thursday. Baldwin fired a prop gun that was supposed to have had blanks while filming a scene. Director Joel Souza, 48, was wounded and the 42-year-old cinematographer Hutchins died in a hospital.

Police are investigating the incident. Production of the movie has been halted.

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