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The Atlantic Journal

April 2, 1993

Brandon Lee - Bullet killed actor during N.C filming, police say

Wilmington, N.C. - Actor Brandon Lee died as a result of a .44-caliber gunshot wound to the stomach suffered Wednesday while filming a scene in an action-adventure movie, police said Thursday. The incident raised questions about whether the death was an accident, but officials were not commenting publicly.

The bullet apparently was fired from a handgun that was to have been loaded with blanks for a scene in the movie "The Crow," in which Mr. Lee played a rock star who is killed but comes back to life as a bird and avenges his death. The 28-year-old actor was the son of the late martial arts expert and actor Bruce Lee.

Neither Wilmington police nor officials at Carolco Studios, where the movie was being filmed, would comment on how a live round apparently was inserted into the gun in place of a blank. Studio officials initially believed the wound had been caused by a "squib," a small explosive device used to simulate a bloody wound.

"As far as I know, it was supposed to have been a regular weapon firing blanks," said Capt. L.P. Thomas, head of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Wilmington Police Department.

The bullet was discovered during an autopsy Thursday at Onslow Memorial Hospital in nearby Jacksonville, according to Wilmington police, who are expected to run ballistics tests on it and the handgun. They also are believed to be looking at the film that contains the shooting incident. They have interviewed at least four witnesses. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is assisting in the probe.

Police officials said witnesses told them that during the filming Mr. Lee walked through a door carrying a bag of groceries and was to have been shot by another actor about 15 feet away. That actor has not been identified by either police or studio officials.

The grocery bag contained a small explosive charge used to simulate gunfire. The device was to make it appear as if the gunfire hit the bag and then Mr. Lee, according to police.

Studio officials said the film, being produced by "Crowvision Inc.," an independent company formed for this movie, was about six days short of wrapping up principal photography. Filming had been delayed by windstorms last month and was scheduled to be completed April 6.

At that time, Mr. Lee planned to get married and take an extended vacation.

Mr. Lee's father was 32 when he died in Hong Kong from what has been described only as a swelling of the brain suffered while filming a movie.

Brandon Lee's death is the latest and most serious in a series of accidents that have plagued films in the Wilmington area.

In July 1988, an extra in the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie "Cyborg" was cut in the eye while filming a scene involving a knife fight and lost sight in the eye. Jackson Pinckney of Fayetteville recently won a $487,500 judgment against Mr. Van Damme following a trial in Cumberland County.