Two people were injured after getting hit by bullets Sunday in a reenactment of a gunfight that took place in Tombstone, an Old West town in Arizona. The reenactment was supposed to involve only blanks.
Two actors, hailing from the Tombstone Vigilante group, performed a standoff Sunday afternoon in which they were going to imitate one of the episodes that happened in Tombstone, a town that was popularized by Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the O.K. Corral, according to the Associated Press.
However, one of the guns had real bullets, which lead to actor Ken Curtis getting shot when the actors fired. Curtis had to be rushed and airlifted to Tucson, where he received surgery. Another bystander was shot, but her whereabouts are still unknown.
Jeff Miller, the head of the Tombstone Vigilantes, said that their group had no idea how a real bullet made its way into the pistol since they take extra care in preparing their props.
"We've been doing this since 1947, and we've never had an incident before," Miller said, according to the New York Daily News. "We have strict rules about that, so we're not sure how this happened. It's not something we take lightly."
The gun had one live round left and five other casings from previous live rounds, according to the Tombstone Marshal's Office. Aside from the injured victims, other businesses in the area were also hit by the bullets, AP reported. No incident similar to this one has taken place before.
"Tombstone takes pride in the safety and security of its townspeople and tourists alike and the citizens of Tombstone can be assured that stringent safety protocol will be enforced prior to allowing any further gunfight skits," the Marshal's Office said.
