4.4-Caliber Bullet Found In Brandon Lee's Body

WILMINGTON, N.C. - A .44-caliber bullet was removed today during an autopsy on the body of actor Brandon Lee, who died after a movie-set accident with a prop gun that was supposed to fire blanks, police said.

A brief police statement did not say if the bullet was fired by the prop gun.

Lee, the 28-year-old son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee, died yesterday about 12 hours after being wounded on the set of the movie "The Crow."

A projectile that was apparently fired from a prop gun entered Lee's abdomen and lodged against his spine, Dr. Warren McMurry said yesterdayafter operating on Lee. He did not remove the object during surgery.

In the film, Lee was playing a rock star who is murdered by a gang, then comes back to life with supernatural powers to avenge his death. He talked about the film in a March 28 interview with the Morning Star.

"I find myself thinking, `What if I died and had a chance to come back?' You find yourself in that proven place. So many things seem so trivial and mundane. If you came back, they would seem so significant and bittersweet," he said.

Executive Producer Bob Rosen said Lee was standing about 20 feet from the gun when it was fired.

The shooting is being treated as accidental, but police will examine film shot during the scene and interview witnesses, Chief Robert Wadman said. He would not release the shooter's name.

The day filming for "The Crow" began Feb. 1, a carpenter suffered burns when a crane brushed against power lines on the set. He remains hospitalized in fair condition.

The magazine Entertainment Weekly described other problems: a disgruntled employee drove a car through the studio's plaster shop; a construction worker slipped and drove a screwdriver through his hand; a storm damaged sets; and a publicist was injured in a minor car accident.

As a child, Brandon Lee lived for a time in Seattle, where his father is now buried.