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.

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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.

 

[JustSomeDong]

It's mindblowing that a dude with this level of wealth and privilege would be ignorant enough to not stfu and not say a single word that wasn't "lawyer".

That people believe this kind of thing... Tell me you've never known anyone with actual wealth without saying it. No its not surprising. Its completely unsurprising. Its mundane, commonplace, and ordinary. Rich people are still human, and humans are fucking dumb.
It is exactly what that kind of wealth and privilege buys you, safety from your own dumb ass, first and foremost. And the sooner you realize it, the better off you will be. Know your enemy and all that.

 

[W00K #17]

That people believe this kind of thing... Tell me you've never known anyone with actual wealth without saying it. No its not surprising. Its completely unsurprising. Its mundane, commonplace, and ordinary. Rich people are still human, and humans are fucking dumb.
It is exactly what that kind of wealth and privilege buys you, safety from your own dumb ass, first and foremost. And the sooner you realize it, the better off you will be. Know your enemy and all that.

Yeah no shit. I've seen farmers who owned millions worth of premium land piss it all away selling it off piece by piece before dyjng in the worst nursing homes in the county.

 

[Lone Star]

I haven't really followed this story since the first headlines happened.

Did he actually talk to LEOs this candidly? Was he stupid enough to not have a lawyer by his side?

Someone to tell him "sir, don't do that"?

It's mindblowing that a dude with this level of wealth and privilege would be ignorant enough to not stfu and not say a single word that wasn't "lawyer".

I can't imagine this level of ego digging one's own grave..


Then again, LA brain syndrome...

For normal people like us, it's a huge problem. The chances of Alec having any sort of severe punishment over this is pretty low, and I'm sure he knew that.

 

[derpherp2]

It's a bit troubling to me that at the age of six, I was a safer handler of firearms than every one of the chucklefucks involved in this incident.

California isn't known for it's ability to handle guns.

SMUGGLING guns with fent-laced bullets on the other hand?

 

[John.Doe]

And yet under New Mexico law the ultimate responsibility for what happens with a firearm lies with the person who was holding it at the time.

@John.Doe has brought it up before. There was a criminal case where some assholes gave a "friend" of theirs a loaded gun, said it was empty, and told him to point it and someone and pull the trigger. The courts found the man who pulled the trigger liable, not them.

I can't recall if that was the exact fact pattern, but there is case law on point in the state.

State v. Gilliam, 288 P.2d 675 (New Mexico Sup. Ct. 1955)
The decision was an appeal of a criminal conviction at a jury trial, in which the defendant had been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by the act of unsafely handling a gun with the result that it discharged and killed the victim.

The NM Supreme Court ruled in that decision, in relevant part that:

It could have made no difference to the trial of a charge of involuntary manslaughter as to who loaded the gun … . All that it is necessary to establish for involuntary manslaughter by the use of a loaded firearm is that a defendant had in his hands a gun which at some time had been loaded and that he handled it … without due caution and circumspection and that death resulted.

Pointing a loaded gun at someone and pulling the trigger counts as 'handling without due caution and circumspection'.

It should be an open and shut case for Baldwin because he had the ultimate, final power to prevent Hutchins death. He could have checked the gun, or even asked why they weren't using a rubber stunt gun for a rehearsal, or simply followed the most basic safety rules and NOT pointed a firearm at another human being.

Baldwin has decades in Hollywood, thus he knows how guns are to be handled on set, he sits on the board of a gun-control organization, thus he knows of the hazards of mishandling, and therefore he was perfectly knowledgeable and capable.

However, the armorer can also be found guilty as well, because she was conscious of a risk (real ammunition on set, mishandling of blanks, etc) that could easily result in death and ignored those risks by fucking around, getting high, allowing real ammunition on set, etc. She could have done a dozen things that would have eliminated or reasonably reduced that risk, but decided to say fuck it and roll the dice with other people's lives on the line. As it turns out, trusting a ragaholic asshole actor to be more responsible about guns than you was a bad plan.

Ultimately, I feel Alec is more squarely to blame since he pulled the trigger, but this chick was gonna get somebody hurt or killed eventually. She need to at the minimum be barred from ever handling anything more dangerous than a espresso machine in the future. Just my thoughts.

 

[FatMan]

Did he actually talk to LEOs this candidly? Was he stupid enough to not have a lawyer by his side?

Yes to both. He sat there for over an hour without a lawyer, chatting it up with two female detectives like they were his buddies. Seemingly completely unaware that the information he was offering would not help him in any way shape or form.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpl0Ol-N-PU

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

Check out the resting smugface on this bitch, and after hearing how mealy-mouthed & fucked up her work & the production was overall.

And after listening to yesterday's witnesses & crossexams....

Her defense definitely took the adversarial approach I'd thought they would, but I highly doubt it'll work out for her. LOL

Edit: the ME is on the stand today, but I think yesterday was far more informative in terms of how & why this shit happened.

 

[Thomas Talus]

That people believe this kind of thing... Tell me you've never known anyone with actual wealth without saying it. No its not surprising. Its completely unsurprising. Its mundane, commonplace, and ordinary. Rich people are still human, and humans are fucking dumb.
It is exactly what that kind of wealth and privilege buys you, safety from your own dumb ass, first and foremost. And the sooner you realize it, the better off you will be. Know your enemy and all that.

Yes to both. He sat there for over an hour without a lawyer, chatting it up with two female detectives like they were his buddies. Seemingly completely unaware that the information he was offering would not help him in any way shape or form.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpl0Ol-N-PU

Everyone likes to talk about how they hate lawyers, don't want to waste the money, etc.

Then they get themselves in big, expensive trouble, because they did something their lawyer would have told them not to do.

Many such cases!

 

[kurosawa]

Thanks to listening to Branca I picked this up but apparently there's drama on the defense team. Absolutely crazy stuff happening - NM court link.

A new attorney entered as co-counsel and one of the attorneys tried to withdraw. Apparently her defense team (likely Bullion - the one who tried to withdraw) did not exclude attorney-client privileged info in pretrial motions and failed to timely secure an armorer expert witness. I originally was going to say middle of a manslaughter trial was not the time to pull white girl bullshit but it appears justified after two major fuckups.

Spoiler: Order denying Bullion's withdrawal and allowing Ms. Barreras entry as co-counsel.

Spoiler: Order granting state's motion to exclude the late disclosed expert witness.

The defense couldn't locate a guy named Sneesby (likely too busy out sneeding) so they tried to replace him and failed.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

The new lawyer for Gutierrez was up, cross-examining the state's expert firearm witness (Steven Orr); it's not going well for her.


Edit: they're talking about doing data extractions on Gutierrez's phone, but called break until later today.

Regarding the drama between Gutierrez and her lawyer:

---

Say.... where's @AnOminous been on this?

 

[FatMan]

Her defense definitely took the adversarial approach I'd thought they would, but I highly doubt it'll work out for her. LOL

That cross on the Walter White looking dude was bonkers. The guy literally just finishes describing in detail how he held his dying friend during her last moments, and Bowles comes in hot and just starts blasting the poor guy. I can't imagine that played well with even one single jury member. I was just sitting there thinking "bro, what are you doing?.... THIS is the guy you go after?" Wild stuff yesterday.

 

[Thomas Talus]

That cross on the Walter White looking dude was bonkers. The guy literally just finishes describing in detail how he held his dying friend during her last moments, and Bowles comes in hot and just starts blasting the poor guy. I can't imagine that played well with even one single jury member. I was just sitting there thinking "bro, what are you doing?.... THIS is the guy you go after?" Wild stuff yesterday.

Some clients are convinced that an aggressive attack dog is just what they want for their lawyer. Which is true in the sense that it's what they want, but it's not necessarily what's in their best interest, you know?

 

[AnOminous]

---

Say.... where's @AnOminous been on this?

I've been following it at most based on headlines so I don't have a strong opinion. It almost strikes me as like Brandon Lee getting killed in The Crow, which resulted in a lawsuit (settled) but no criminal cases. My off the cuff on first hearing about it was so many different people fucked up here that it's hard to say any one was guilty of a specific crime.

That said, the prosecutors do.

 

[Squid Diddler]

@beautiful person there is nothing wrong with using real firearms for filming movies, so long as the armorer is competent and the cast and crew respect the firearm and handle it safely. Using real firearms with blanks has been standard on movie and TV sets ever since the beginning of Hollywood. There have been a few tragedies doing so, such as this one and the Crow, but the vast majority of the time there are no issues due to a culture of safety and professionalism on set.

But why? Look, I love guns as much as the next guy, own several myself, but it's Hollywood, it's fake, why use real guns? What's the benefit? If it's cheaper, that doesn't really seem like a good enough reason. I know the John wick movies famously didn't use any blanks because of the close proximity almost all of the gunfighting takes place in, and those movies are very successful, look great, etc. Just doesn't make sense to me. There are so many other options that don't have the downside of killing people if they don't work properly.

 

[Unsane]

At the very least, this trial has given Hannah an opportunity to clean herself up. She looks almost respectable and sober now.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

Holy shit, it really looks/sounds like something was done to Baldwin's pistol in the time between it was fired into Hutchins, and when it was secured & turned in to evidence. It was completely non-functional when examined by the state's firearm expert, and that it absolutely wouldn't have been able to fire in the condition it was given to him. Some destructive testing was done by the FBI, but there was damage aside from that "from very heavy blows". It wasn't just modified for a lighter trigger or fanning the hammer; somebody took a hammer to to it instead.


After all, there were quite a few hours before cops showed up.

 

[Iron Hamster]

I could see him trying the "I'm sorry yer honor but I am retarded, I live in California and I don't know shit about guns, in fact I fuckin hate 'em, I don't even know what a gun chamber is, let alone how to check one ya honor" defense.

There are texts between Gutierrez and someone else involved in the filming of her complaining that he wouldn't do enough safety training.

I haven't really followed this story since the first headlines happened.

Did he actually talk to LEOs this candidly? Was he stupid enough to not have a lawyer by his side?

Someone to tell him "sir, don't do that"?

It's mindblowing that a dude with this level of wealth and privilege would be ignorant enough to not stfu and not say a single word that wasn't "lawyer".

I can't imagine this level of ego digging one's own grave..


Then again, LA brain syndrome...

It's well worth the watch:

 

[The Dude]

Personally, I hold both the armorer and Baldwin to blame for the incident. The armorer was clearly unprofessional and incompetent. IIRC she wasn't licensed as a professional armorer for film and television. She had live ammunition on set and was using the same firearms used in the film for target shooting, which is a huge no-no. Firearms intended for use in film typically never have live ammunition used in them to minimize the risk of having an accident with it. She also left the set for the day and left the firearms behind. Professional film armorers never let their firearms out of their site, and when they leave for the day they lock the firearms up in secure lockers/safes in a likewise secure trailer or truck, or take the weapons with them. The armorers also essentially act as a range safety officer for the set, ensuring a culture of firearms safety is maintained on set, and putting a stop to filming if the firearms are not being handled safely. This chick obviously wasn't doing that.

Baldwin failed to follow even the most basic of firearms safety rules. He failed to check a weapon to see if it was cleared/unloaded when it was handed to him. He failed to check to see if the ammunition loaded in it was blank ammunition, or live ammo. As a producer in the film he failed to ensure that the armorer was a licensed, professional, reputable armorer with a good reputation.

They both deserve prison.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

Day 5

The development I wasn't aware of until yesterday, was that some time after the shooting police learned of Gutierrez handing off a small bag of white powder to another crew member, after Baldwin shot Halyna, and she then tried to get it back afterwards. This (and apparent damage to the revolver internals aside from FBI destructive testing) is what led them to charge her with evidence tampering.

Besides being an insufferably stupid wokebitch landwhale with purple & yellow hair (dressed like a homeless person), when I watched the interviews with Gutierrez shown in court she was talking a lot... almost like she was high on something. The cops learned of the alleged coke hand off several days later, and it was too late for them to run drug tests.

Currently they're playing Gutierrez's second interview with her lawyer present, who is doing his best impression of a mute; trying to sound professional & going over the several "misfires" before Halyna was shot.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]