Earlier today it was announced that Anton Viktorovich Yelchin, the Russian born actor who was best known for playing Pavel Andreievich Chekov in the Star Trek reboot movies and Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation, had died at the age of just 27.

Early in the morning of June the 19th 2016, Yelchin was found pinned between his 5,000 pound (2.5 ton) 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a brick mailbox by friends he had been due to meet for a rehearsal. When Yelchin did not show up they visited his house and found him, he was pronounced dead shortly after.

According to Police, the vehicle, which was still running and in neutral, reportedly struck him after rolling backwards on the driveway of his Studio City home in Los Angeles.

Jeep Cherokees made between July 16th 2012 and December 22nd 2015 have been blamed for 212 crashes, 308 property damage claims and 41 injuries as a result of a 'confusing' gear stick which made it easy for drivers to forget the Jeep was in neutral and not park when they got out the car, you can read a report HERE for further details. According to Fiat Chrysler Automotive, the issue stems from the design of the electronic gear shifter, when the driver puts the vehicle into park the only notification is a light on the console rather than any other indication such as an audible warning, as Fiat Chrysler Automotive puts it “unless due care is taken, drivers may draw erroneous conclusions about the status of their vehicles.” whilst Fiat Chrysler Automotive have so far not commented on this specific accident they have seemingly made it clear that such incidents are driver error having confirmed that "drivers of affected vehicles were notified and issued directions to properly operate the shifter." In April thousands of Jeeps were subject to a voluntary recall in which the manufacturer further enhanced warnings to drivers in an effort to make it clearer to owners that the car had been left in neutral and also made it impossible for the Grand Cherokee to move under certain circumstances. With Yelchin's Jeep being a 2015 model it would have likely been part of this voluntary recall but it is not yet known whether or not Yelchin's Jeep was returned as part of the recall or not, no mechanical fault with the vehicle has yet been reported as having contributed to the accident.

Jennifer Allen, Yelchin's publicist confirmed the actor's death earlier and stated that his family had requested privacy.

Anton Viktorovich Yelchin was born on the 11th of March 1989, his parents were Irina and Viktor Yelchin, two well known and professional figure-skaters who were stars of Russia’s Ice Ballet. Despite being the third-ranked pair team which qualified them for the 1972 Winter Olympics, Yelchin's parents were not permitted to participate in the games due to intervention by the Soviet authorities. Yelchin's parents fled what was the USSR, moving to the United States in September 1989 after receiving refugee status having fled political persecution as a result of their Jewish ancestry.

Yelchin began performing in the late 1990s with his first film credit coming when he was just 9 years old, he appeared in several television roles and the Hollywood films during his career and featured in 39 television shows/tv movies and 44 films, three of which including the latest instalment in the Star Trek movie series (Star Trek: Beyond) are yet to be released. His final film will be Thoroughbred, due for release in 2017. He also has one video game credit to his name, portraying Pavel Checkov in 2013's Star Trek for Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows PC.

During his too brief career Yelchin won many plaudits for his acting ability and, between 2002 and 2010 was nominated for a number of awards for his performances both in film and television, his performance in the movie Hearts in Atlantis, in which he played Robert "Bobby" Garfield, won him the Young Artist Award's 'Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actor' award.

If you would like to learn more about Yelchin's life and his career you can do so by checking out his Wikipedia page HERE and his IMDB page HERE.

John Cho, who portrays Hikaru Sulu in the reboot movies, tweeted earlier today "I loved Anton Yelchin so much. He was a true artist - curious, beautiful, courageous. He was a great pal and a great son. I'm in ruins." Cho was later joined by Star Trek: Beyond director Justin Long who tweeted "Still in shock. Rest in peace, Anton. Your passion and enthusiasm will live on with everyone that had the pleasure of knowing you." and Star Trek co-star Zachary Quinto who plays Spock "our dear friend. our comrade. our anton. one of the most open and intellectually curious people… " Tweets from Bad Robot and StarTrek.com also expressed their condolences.

Whilst the Star Trek reboot series has featured mixed reviews from fans, Yelchin's performance of the role made famous by Walter Koenig was praised with Yelchin perfectly capturing the energy of the young and naïve ensign and he will most certainly be missed by fans and colleagues alike and I'm sure the entire UFP community would wish to offer condolences for his family during this difficult time.