Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 2, 1993 TAG: 9304020115
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WILMINGTON, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
GUNSHOT CAUSE OF ACTOR'S DEATH
The death of Brandon Lee in a filming incident took a startling turn Thursday when police disclosed that the actor was killed by what was apparently a .44-caliber bullet.What appeared to be a bullet was discovered lodged near Lee's spine during an autopsy, calling into question the safety procedures on the film set.
Detectives from the Wilmington Police Department said that they are still treating Lee's death as an accidental shooting.
They said they recovered a .44-caliber handgun from the movie set along with what appeared to be two spent casings, one from a blank round and the other from a "dummy" bullet used in the filming. In filming, "dummy" rounds, which look like real cartridges, are placed in the cylinder of guns for close-up shots so they appear to be loaded.
Lee, 28, was the son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee. The accident occurred on Soundstage 4 of Carolco Studios, where the $14 million action film "The Crow," was entering its final week of production.
In the scene, Lee walked through a doorway carrying a bag of groceries and was shot one time by the actor Michael Massee, playing a villain in the film.
At the moment of the shooting, Lee pulled a trigger hidden behind the grocery bag to set off a "squib," a small explosive device designed to create the appearance of the sack bursting when struck by a bullet. After setting off the squib, Lee collapsed on the set, bleeding profusely from the right side of his abdomen.
He was rushed to New Hanover Regional Medical Center, where he died after five hours of surgery and after receiving 60 units of blood.
Detective Rodney Simmons of the Wilmington Police Department reviewed videotape made of the scene during filming, which indicated that Lee's right side was in line with the angle of the pistol that was fired for the scene.
Simmons said that when he arrived at the set shortly after 2 a.m. Wednesday, technicians on the set had unloaded the gun and placed it and the spent shell of a blank round into a plastic bag.
Simmons said that in talking to a special-effects man, he learned that one of the dummy shells was missing the slug from its tip.
Simmons said his interview of the special-effects person raised the possibility that the gun was loaded with the dummy bullet for a close-up shot, and when the gun was unloaded the slug had become dislodged from the dummy shell casing and remained in the cylinder or the barrel.
Keywords:
FATALITY