According to the Associated Press, actor Anton Yelchin has died at the age of 27 in a car accident.
According to TMZ, friends noticed Yelchin was missing around 1 am after he was late to a rehearsal. The actor was discovered pinned to his mailbox by his car at the bottom of a steep driveway at his San Fernando Valley home. The car was in neutral and the engine was still running, according to TMZ. Foul play is not suspected.
Los Angles Police Department spokesperson Jenny Hauser released a statement, confirming some details of his death:
“On Sunday, June 19 at 1:10 in the morning, a fatal traffic collision occurred. It was the result of the victim’s own car rolling backwards down his steep driveway, pinning him against a brick mailbox pillar and security fence. The victim was on his way to meet his friends for rehearsal. And when he didn’t show up, his friends went to his house, where they found him deceased by his car. It appeared he had momentarily exited his car leaving it in the driveway.”
Yelchin was born in Russia in 1989, and immigrated to the United States as an infant. His first role was in E.R. in 2000, and he had worked as an actor in a number of additional television shows over the following years. He rose to national attention with his role in the film Alpha Dog, before he was cast as Chekov in J.J. Abram’s rebooted Star Trek franchise.
Since Star Trek, he had appeared in films such as Terminator Salvation, Odd Thomas, The Smurfs, and others. He is slated to appear in Rememory, We Don’t Belong Here and this year’s Star Trek Beyond. He was also cast in the upcoming Stephen King adaptation, Mr. Mercedes.
Some of Yelchin’s costars have reacted to the news on Twitter:
Other Star Trek alumni and fellow actors have weighed in as well:
More as we have it.