Actor Johann Ofner was killed Monday after being shot in the chest while Australian hip-hop group Bliss n Eso filmed a music video at a Brisbane bar.
Police said Ofner, 28, died while filming a scene featuring several guns, police said. They initially called it a “workplace incident.”
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“During the filming of that scene, several firearms were used,” Detective Inspector Tom Armitt said. “As a result of the use of those firearms one of the actors has received wounds to the chest and has subsequently died from his injuries.”
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Members of the band were not on the set at the time, the group’s management said in a statement. No one else was injured.
Bliss n Eso had put out a Twitter ad asking if anybody wanted to “star” in their video for song Friend Like You.
Armitt said it was not immediately clear whether the guns were loaded with live ammunition or blanks. (Blank cartridges can still cause injuries if fired at close range.)
“I can’t tell you whether they are live or real firearms,” Armitt told The Associated Press. “I can’t tell you the type of ammunition that were being used. That will be a subject of the investigation.”
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Ofner posted an Instagram video to one of his accounts just hours before he died, showing three guns, a fake knife and piles of money. (That particular Instagram account has been deactivated, but another one still remains.)
The majority of Ofner’s pictures and videos show a healthy, active man who took fitness very seriously.
Members of Bliss n Eso expressed their condolences for the incident on Facebook.
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), the local actors’ union, offered its “deepest condolences” to the family and friends of the victim.
Initially, there were many reports from the scene that the shooting took place on-set of the upcoming blockbuster Pacific Rim: Uprising — which is filming nearby — but the shooting death had no connection to the movie.
With files from The Associated Press
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