The shutter was already open.
However, I was just able to fix it by uninstalling the last 2 Microsoft Windows updates. I reverted back to a few weeks ago when I know it was working fine.
For anyone else having this issue, go to Control Panel->programs -> programs and features -> Installed updated and look under the Microsoft Windows updates. Uninstall the updates to get back to a time it worked - for me, I had to uninstall 2 updates - by clicking in the update and selecting uninstall and restarting the computer.
I'll try this on my husband's laptop tonight and see if it fixed his camera issue as well.