Tragic news was released today as it was discovered that Anton Yelchin, known for his roles in Star Trek and Alpha Dogs, was found dead early Sunday morning after being pinned by his car.  Only 27 years-old at the time of his death, Yelchin was a charismatic young actor, rising to stardom with his most famous role playing Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek films.

TMZ reports that he was found pinned between his car and a brick mailbox around 1 am Sunday morning. Friends discovered Yelchin when he failed to show up for a rehearsal, which he had planned on being at hours earlier. The mailbox in question, was attached to a security gate at the bottom of a very steep hill. The car was found in neutral and at this time cops do not suspect foul play.

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With the upcoming release of Star Trek Beyond, this is tragic news for the fans, many of which were anticipating seeing the cast of the rebooted Star Trek films at San Diego Comic Con.

Born in Russia to professional figure skating parents, Yelchin was an only child and was raised in the United States. He began his acting career with small indie films and various television shows, before breaking out in films like Alpha Dogs and the teenage comedy Charlie Bartlett. To date his biggest role had been that of Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek films.

His family as for privacy during this time of sorrow and sadness. Our hearts go out to them during this difficult time.

UPDATE

In a sad update on the death of Anton Yelchin, it’s been released that he was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee,  which has led many to wonder whether or not his Jeep was one of the 1.1 million Jeep’s that was recalled in April for a transmission problem. The problem was that many of the vehicles could possibly not be in park, even if the driver believed they put it in park. Sadly, the design of the vehicles caused the shifters to not correctly shift into park and would slip into neutral. The general idea at the moment, revolves around this defect in the vehicle. If Yelchin put it in park it could have slipped into neutral and rolled backwards, pinning him between the vehicle and the post.

There is no proof that this is what happened, but depending on the year of Yelchin’s Jeep Grand Cherokee, this could have been a possible reason of why his vehicle rolled backwards pinning him against the post.

Photo Credit: Getty Images