A crew member on the television series “Law & Order: Organized Crime” was fatally shot Tuesday at a Brooklyn film location, leaving real NYC cops to investigate a crime scene on the set of a show that focused on fictionalized portrayals of your department.
Police identified the victim as Johnny Pizarro, 31 years old, from Queens. He worked as a lot production assistant (responsible for keeping the lot free for the production cars to park). Police said in an emailed statement that he was in his car around 5:15 a.m. Tuesday when someone approached, opened the door and shot him in the neck and head. In local news footage following the incident, forensic investigators were seen photographing the interior of a red Honda Civic with the passenger door open.
He was taken to Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, where he was pronounced dead around 6 a.m., police said, adding that no arrests had been made as of late Tuesday. A short, thin man in a black hoodie was seen running from the filming location in the Greenpoint neighborhood, police said. The surrounding police station has one of the lowest homicide rates in New York City.according to police data from January 2021 to May 2022.
Neighbors told local media that fictional crime scenes are nothing new as the filming location is nearby. One resident, Janus Czuj, told the New York Post that he thought the scene was part of a set. “I didn’t think it was a real tragedy,” he said, adding that he “looked at the footage and was like, ‘Oh, it’s a movie.’ But that was real footage.”
Law & Order: Organized Crime stars Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler, a fictional NYPD detective. The third season starts in September.
NBC and Universal Television said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened and shocked to learn that one of our employees was the victim of a crime and died this morning. We are working with local law enforcement as they continue the investigation.”
Though it was unclear if the murder was related to Pizarro’s role on the series or if the assailant knew him, it was the youngest highprofile death on a movie set since Halina Hutchinsa filmmaker, was killed on the set of the western film Rust last year.
In that episode, where another crew member was injured, a gun was fired with live ammunition rather than a dummy bullet by the actor. Alec Baldwin, who denied having pulled the trigger. In March, his lawyers argued that he should be protected from financial responsibility for the shooting.