Alec Baldwin's 'prop firearm' kills one, injures another

Sheriff's office: Alec Baldwin discharged prop gun that killed crew member, wounded director

Baldwin is one of the film's star actors and producers. He went to the sheriff's office willingly and provided a statement to investigators, sheriff's office spokesman Juan Ríos said.

www.santafenewmexican.com

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Actor Alec Baldwin discharged a "prop firearm" that killed a cinematographer and injured a the director of the movie Rust, being filmed on a set south of Santa Fe, a county sheriff's office spokesman said late Thursday.

Halyna Hutchins, 42 and the director of photography for the movie, died at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque. The film's director, Joel Souza, was hospitalized in Santa Fe, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office spokesman Juan Ríos said.

A source closed to the investigation said Baldwin, 63, was questioned by investigators late Thursday and was seen by a New Mexican reporter and photographer in tears.

Investigators are still trying to determine if the incident was an accident, Ríos said. No charges have been filed, and the investigation remains open, Ríos wrote in a news release.

The prop was fired at Bonanza Creek Ranch, where filming was underway, the sheriff's office said in an early evening news release. Baldwin stars in the production.

Hutchins died from her injuries after she was flown to University of New Mexico Hospital, according to the sheriff's office. Souza was taken to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, where he is receiving emergency care, the sheriff's office said. Attempts to get comment from Baldwin were unsuccessful.

“We received the devastating news this evening, that one of our members, Halyna Hutchins, the Director of Photography on a production called ‘Rust’ in New Mexico died from injuries sustained on the set,” John Lindley, the president of the International Cinematographers Guild Local 600, and Rebecca Rhine, the executive director, said in a statement, as reported by Variety. “The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event. This is a terrible loss, and we mourn the passing of a member of our Guild’s family.”

Deputies were investigating how the accident occurred and "what type of projectile was discharged," the sheriff's office said in an earlier news release.

Rust Movie Productions did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Filming for Rust was set to continue into early November, according to a news release from the New Mexico Film Office. It's described as the story of a 13-year-old boy left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, with New Mexico doubling for Kansas.

Guns firing blanks have been blamed for deaths in past movie productions. Online Hollywood news site Deadline reported, "Actor Jon-Erik Hexum was killed Oct. 18, 1984, on the set of the TV series Cover Up when he accidentally shot himself in the head with a gun loaded with blanks. And in 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, died after he was shot in the head by a gun firing blanks on the set of The Crow. Both incidents were determined to have been accidents."

This is a developing story and will be updated.

 

[oldTireWater]

Baldwin has been in enough big budget movies to have been taught how to handle weapons enough to look the part. He may not like plebs having guns, but I'd bet money he's been taught how to handle them properly. I like him as an actor, but he's an arrogant faggot. He can burn.

Baldwin didn't pull the trigger and shoot someone, the ammunition just flew out of the gun toward some people.

Charlie Sheen killed hundreds by just throwing a handful of bullets.

 

[Jaded Optimist]

Girl, you weren't.

Like, lmfao, they really put a 24-year-old kid with only a few years of actual experience in charge as the head armorer? Absolute lunacy, right off the bat.

The whole thing sounded like a shitshow that lead into an even bigger shitshow. Holy shit.

Her dad is an absolute legend. I'm now thinking that she was just so confident in her ability because she grew up around that environment.

 

[whoishomermynameis]

 

[Getting tard comed]

Her dad is an absolute legend. I'm now thinking that she was just so confident in her ability because she grew up around that environment.

I wonder how much she was pressured into letting things slide on this production. If her dad is a legend and taught her what she knows she is a shit student. 3 prior gun discharges prior to this fatal one? How does any self-respecting armoror let that happen 2 times, let alone 4?

 

[X Pac Heat]

You'd think someone with such a pedigree wouldn't be doing scab work...

 

[ForTheHoard]

I wonder how much she was pressured into letting things slide on this production. If her dad is a legend and taught her what she knows she is a shit student. 3 prior gun discharges prior to this fatal one? How does any self-respecting armoror let that happen 2 times, let alone 4?

It depends if they're using the correct terminology. A misfire usually means the trigger was pulled, the firing pin struck the primer, and the round didn't go off. Usually attributed to a bad primer or the firing pin spring being underpowered or damaged. In either case, no bullet leaves the gun. An accidental discharge is when the gun goes off without the shooter's intent, which is mostly attributed to poor firearms safety. People constantly refer to accidental discharges as misfires so who knows what exactly they're talking about. I don't trust journalists to be hip with gun lingo.

 

[Iceland Heavy]

Take it with a grain of salt until records of her formal firearm training have been made public. You'd be shocked how many people self-identify as firearms experts when they know pretty much nothing. When I was working as a firearms trainer for local police departments, one of my coworkers was a US Air Marshall, and I caught him in 2 separate classes pointing a gun to his temple as a joke. Don't underestimate how many people out there behave like 10 year olds when they get a gun in their hands.

There's a video out there of Travis Haley (high speed special forces operator dude who does tactical training stuff for a living now) demonstrating how to not handle an AK because you'll have an ND doing it like that and then proceeds to have an ND in the exact way he was just warning against. Even actual experts with years of experience can slip up if they get complacent and the on-set conditions here leading up to this sound like a godawful mess so far.

 

[RodgerDodger]

So everybody’s safety was predicated on a 24 year old nepotistic diversity hire who had no clue what she was fucking doing. Backed up by a poorly led team of apprentice armorers with no experience. A cheap ass group of producers. A film crew so fearful of their lives that they waked off, and 2 directors and a star so lacking in any fucking common sense that they kept going anyway. What a complete and utter shitshow.. What’s that thing that pilots tech about disasters. The Swiss cheese principle. It isn’t one single thing that causes the disaster. It is a series of smaller incidents and over sites that all line up through the holes in the cheese so the disaster can happen.

one basic thing jumps out at me. I’m not Hollywood. But many years ago me and my team used to make some extra money providing medical standby services for film productions. In our area., mostly tv stuff. We did standby for some Law and Order shows and similar. Productions. It was fun. Not a hard day unless shit went wrong. But you learn a few things. Such as how the guns work. And move. That article says Baldwin got the gun from an assistant director who claimed it was safe or cold. Please some actual Hollywood type correct me, but the way I always saw it was only an Armorer touched the guns. The Armorer would check the gun bring the gun to the set and actor. Retrieve the weapon between shots, and secure it when shooting was complete. There should be no other people touching that gun. It moves Armorer to actor back to Armorer. If it was in the AD’s hands custody was broken.

This was a very uncontrolled production with poor safety protocols. That’s going to come down hard on a ton of people.

 

[Art Kassul]

That article says Baldwin got the gun from an assistant director who claimed it was safe or cold.

In that podcast, according to the armorer, she claims it is standard practice for her personally (or maybe some other authorized firearm specialist on her crew?) to hand the firearm to the actor before each usage and take it away afterwards, for safety's sake. The oldtimer firearms experts on the podcast joke about how much more strict things are nowadays and its a good thing.

 

[Jaded Optimist]

In that podcast, according to the armorer, she claims it is standard practice for her personally (or maybe some other authorized firearm specialist on her crew?) to hand the firearm to the actor before each usage and take it away afterwards, for safety's sake. The oldtimer firearms experts on the podcast joke about how much more strict things are nowadays and its a good thing.

Yes, that has been said over and over in this thread.

 

[Travoltron]

This is what they get for going with diversity hires...

It's true. The production company was only approaching women for the job. Another woman was quoted as turning it down because the pay was shit.

 

[Art Kassul]

Yes, that has been said over and over in this thread.

Now we have it directly from the person responsible, uttered a few weeks before she disregarded that protocol.

 

[NJBear]

Some are now saying the gun had a live bullet(no blank)

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec

 

[whoishomermynameis]

 

[cybertoaster]

Accidentally based?

 

[Snekposter]

So everybody’s safety was predicated on a 24 year old nepotistic diversity hire who had no clue what she was fucking doing.

If she didn't know what she was doing, its because old man was a dogshit teacher, or she's just dumber than a sack of bricks. That man's been slinging guns for longer than just about anyone on these forums has been alive, and that includes our favorite Boomer Uncle Joe Stalin considering he first picked up those guns of his in 1950. Although shit ain't adding up if she's 24 and her old man was born in... 1943.

 

[Mike Stoklasa]

Although shit ain't adding up if she's 24 and her old man was born in... 1943.

That's what you went with to wrap up your post? You should have just said nothing.

 

[Glowie Hunter Art Bell]

Eh, how does on die from blanks?

Air pressure/gas pressure. Generally has to be close up.

Sometimes blanks can also fragment. I believe thats how Bruce Lees son died

 

[Absurdist Laughter]

Tim Pool had a hot take that agrees with a lot of folks on here. Personally, I think it is best to wait for the full report released by authorities that aren't anecdote. Luckily, the director survived and I'm sure they'll be able to give insight onto how this happened.

 

[Snekposter]

That's what you went with to wrap up your post? You should have just said nothing.

Well, the thing is something is wrong when things should be right, and I'm confused as to just what the fuck went wrong. Her, the firearm... it stinks when it looks good on the surface, is what I'm getting at.

Air pressure/gas pressure. Generally has to be close up.

Sometimes blanks can also fragment. I believe thats how Bruce Lees son died

Na, that was a mix-up where a gun had a projectile lodged in the barrel, and it turns out after a 16 hour shift on the set the assistant armorer misread the ambiguous log from the head armorer (who had already gone home) of "clean gun" as "clean dirty gun" not "clean out clogged gun". So he failed to do a proper check since again, 16 hours on the set, loaded a blank, and bam, dead. There was another guy who was fucking around with a blank, put the gun to the temple, and the pressure caused internal bone spalling into a major blood vessel.