A stuntman for "The Walking Dead" has died after falling on the Georgia set of the hit television show. It's the first on-set death in the US in nearly three years.

John Bernecker, 33, died about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at an Atlanta hospital after falling on the show's set in Senoia, about 56 kilometers south of Atlanta, Coweta County Coroner Richard Hawk said Friday.

Bernecker died from blunt force trauma and his death is considered accidental, Hawk said.
"The Walking Dead," the often-gory AMC show based on a comic series about people fighting to survive a zombie apocalypse, is filming its eighth season.
Phone and email messages left for AMC representatives were not immediately returned Friday.

The US Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation, agency spokesman Michael D'Aquino said in an email Friday.

Bernecker's passing is the first on-set death in the United States since an audio technician for the show "Cops" was killed during a shootout in Omaha, Nebraska, in August 2014. Cameraman Bryce Dion, 38, was killed at the scene of an attempted armed robbery at a fast-food restaurant by a stray bullet from an Omaha police officer.