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

archive.md/jNQZQ

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.

 

[X Pac Heat]

imo guns shouldn't be portrayed in films at all, this incident should be enough to convince any reasonable person. Pretty much any movie could easily be re-written to not include guns, or to have a positive, anti-gun message. Like, in a Terminator movie, the robot could say something like: "my programming indicates that primitive chemically-propelled projectile guns are too unsafe and unpredictable even for a T-800 series cybernetic organism". Then he would use solar- or wind-powered lasers. Or imagine how powerful it would be if e.g. Thanos came out and said, "I might kill half the universe, but I'd never use a gun. Those are for cowards."

All entertainment should be animated. We're practically there with the MCU anyways.

 

[Meat Target]

All entertainment should be animated. We're practically there with the MCU anyways.

That will just accelerate the ruination of cute Japanese girl cartoons.

 

[SITHRAK!]

And they shouldn’t have been shooting with guns when the armorer apparently wasn’t even on set.

It might also be worth pointing out that Baldwin was practising a cross-body draw while the two victims were framing and setting-up the shot- filming of this shot had not commenced.
Which raises the question of why Baldwin wasn’t using a clearly unloaded practice, prop or replica pistol. To do practice draws or scene rehearsals with a hot weapon (blanks or not) is incredibly poor safety practice. Yet another factor in the small avalanche of poor decisions, protocol breaches and rank incompetence that lead directly to the shooting.

 

[Smug Cat]

how has this not gotten an happening yet?

This is not actually very important at all.

 

[Mike Stoklasa]

The worst part about this whole story is that woefully unqualified people are being given cool jobs and being paid a ton of money to do them, despite the fact that I could do it better. Meanwhile I work in a fucking VCR repair shop with a homosexual and a diabetic.

There is no justice in this world.

 

[SITHRAK!]

>Welcome to New Mexico, 47. Your target, renowned kinomatographer Halyna Hutchins, can be found on set preparing the daily shoot for the day. With famous actor Alec Baldwin at the helm of production, you should expect a heightened and more observant security presence, but certainly nothing you haven't handled before. Good luck, 47.

>THAT... is Halyna Hutchins, acclaimed director of photography, and covert operative for Providence. Stay sharp, 47.

>Choosing a prop gun to incriminate the lead actor? Interesting choice as always, 47. Alas, I dare say a premature retirement for both parties is in order.

>The target is down, and not even by your own hand! Excellent work, 47. The money is being transferred now, it's time to make your exit... stage left.

Bro if you’re going to steal from 4chan you should really post screencaps instead of pretending you wrote something yourself.

 

[Michael Janke]

Not to the degree of murder, Murder requires the element of malice aforethought: you wanted to kill a person and your actions resulted in their direct death. No good non-tinfoil evidence currently exists that he wanted to kill anyone on set, so Murder is out the window.

But, possibly recklessness that causes a death (invol manslaughter) in lieu of that? Certainly. Manslaughter means you didn't mean to kill a person, but acted with such personal disregard of safety and consequence that a death was going to happen.

He's certainly at fault for running a sloppy set that had so many holes in protocol that an apparent live firearm slipped through them all and into his hands.

However, happening on a set? That makes proving all of these elements very dicey from a legal standpoint, after all, actors by their nature must behave in reckless ways and do things that if performed off a set would be crimes. Like waving a gun in someone's face. So it'd be darn hard to build a criminal case out of this that could survive all the way to the end and get a conviction, especially because I would assume he'd bring his war chest of lawyers to the fight.

I neither like nor hate him, but, from what has been reported, and assuming it's all true, there's more than enough here to justify criminal charges on him.

Will they HAPPEN?

Probably not.

Will he be CONVICTED if they do?

Probably not.

Will a devastating wrongful death civil suit with years of litigation follow and haunt his name forevermore?

Oh HELL yes.

Does he deserve it?

I dunno, I have no dog in the fight for his reputation.

That's just an opinion the Court of Public Opinion makes, and will continue to make as its rulings are given in perpetuity.

But to say "he's not at fault" from a legal standpoint just isn't true, or rather, hasn't yet been determined by those with the power to do so.



Unless it comes out the boss hired an unqualified "expert" to oversee the machine, like one with only a few hours of training on a similar machine, none on that actual machine, and was letting other people fiddle with it when they weren't on the clock? And wasn't yanked off it and replaced when word of that kind of unprofessional behavior got back to the boss? Then the boss is indeed liable for the situation. Just putting another person in charge and washing your hands of it doesn't work if that person isn't competent and you know they aren't competent.

i think baldwin could get involuntary manslaughter at absolute worse assuming everything goes wrong for him.
the only thing he'll likely get is s civil suit up the ass. baldwin is likely to pay millions i assume.
people have gotten millions for going wheelchairbound, so an actual death is even more.

 

[Mike Stoklasa]

Alec Baldwin did nothing wrong.

 

[Captain Wetbeard]

I'd hardly call myself a Pedowood Jockie, considering I haven't watched a new release full length movie in about 20 years....... or so?

And haven't had a TV in the house since 2010?

I'm not simping for Hollywood, I'm merely pointing out that I don't think joking around on a movie set with a gun you think is a harmless prop is an automatic criminal offense or that it's somehow odd it happened here if it did, I'm sure people joke around on set with the props all the time.

He's gonna have to cut one hell of a check to fix the mess he created by goofing around, to be sure, but I'm not convinced it was a criminal act versus just criminal negligence.

Considering how aggressive Baldwin is in general, and the fact he had previously threatened to end the woman's career, at best he was trying to be intimidating. Everyone there probably knew it was a real gun, so the context of a pissed off and short tempered asshole threatening to kill you with a real gun supposedly loaded with blanks still doesn't make that a joke. Don't forget, Baldwin has assaulted people over a parking space in the past and is well known for being aggressive towards staff.

 

[Michael Janke]

Those guns should never have been just laying there unattended on a cart. The AD should never have called the gun “cold” without personally checking it. Baldwin should never have accepted the gun from the AD in the first place because an AD is not an armorer and this not authorized to handle a weapon on set, much less give that weapon to someone else after claiming it’s cold without even checking it. And they shouldn’t have been shooting with guns when the armorer apparently wasn’t even on set. Yes, Reed is at fault for being an incompetent thot, but Baldwin is at fault for not following the proper safety protocol, and just taking a gun from someone who was not authorized to hand it to him, which is standard protocol a seasoned actor like Baldwin who has filmed with guns in the past should have known about.

why do we have people that arent confident with guns as armorers anyway.
if i wanted an armorer, id choose a weapons expert like an ex special forces military guy or something..

"Alec Baldwin did nothing wrong."
if he shot one person, he probably would have gotten off squeaky clean, but hitting two is gonna make it tough for him

 

[Captain Wetbeard]

It might also be worth pointing out that Baldwin was practising a cross-body draw while the two victims were framing and setting-up the shot- filming of this shot had not commenced.
Which raises the question of why Baldwin wasn’t using a clearly unloaded practice, prop or replica pistol. To do practice draws or scene rehearsals with a hot weapon (blanks or not) is incredibly poor safety practice. Yet another factor in the small avalanche of poor decisions, protocol breaches and rank incompetence that lead directly to the shooting.

That's his story anyway, others have said he intentionally drew and shot at them while making a threat (jokingly)

 

[Meat Target]

why do we have people that arent confident with guns as armorers anyway.
if i wanted an armorer, id choose a weapons expert like an ex special forces military guy or something.

Hell, have a bargain bin fudd NRA instructor do it.

Oh wait, they can't. The guys who know how to safely and legally use guns are scary, yucky domestic terrorists.

 

[SITHRAK!]

That's his story anyway, others have said he intentionally drew and shot at them while making a threat (jokingly)

Be interesting to see what the wounded director has to say. No doubt if he makes a statement that exonerates Baldwin, he’ll go on to much bigger and better things. Hollywood looks after it’s own.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

Not to the degree of murder, Murder requires the element of malice aforethought: you wanted to kill a person and your actions resulted in their direct death. No good non-tinfoil evidence currently exists that he wanted to kill anyone on set, so Murder is out the window.

But, possibly recklessness that causes a death (invol manslaughter) in lieu of that? Certainly. Manslaughter means you didn't mean to kill a person, but acted with such personal disregard of safety and consequence that a death was going to happen.

He's certainly at fault for running a sloppy set that had so many holes in protocol that an apparent live firearm slipped through them all and into his hands.

However, happening on a set? That makes proving all of these elements very dicey from a legal standpoint, after all, actors by their nature must behave in reckless ways and do things that if performed off a set would be crimes. Like waving a gun in someone's face. So it'd be darn hard to build a criminal case out of this that could survive all the way to the end and get a conviction, especially because I would assume he'd bring his war chest of lawyers to the fight.

I neither like nor hate him, but, from what has been reported, and assuming it's all true, there's more than enough here to justify criminal charges on him.

Will they HAPPEN?

Probably not.

Will he be CONVICTED if they do?

Probably not.

Will a devastating wrongful death civil suit with years of litigation follow and haunt his name forevermore?

Oh HELL yes.

Does he deserve it?

I dunno, I have no dog in the fight for his reputation.

That's just an opinion the Court of Public Opinion makes, and will continue to make as its rulings are given in perpetuity.

But to say "he's not at fault" from a legal standpoint just isn't true, or rather, hasn't yet been determined by those with the power to do so.



Unless it comes out the boss hired an unqualified "expert" to oversee the machine, like one with only a few hours of training on a similar machine, none on that actual machine, and was letting other people fiddle with it when they weren't on the clock? And wasn't yanked off it and replaced when word of that kind of unprofessional behavior got back to the boss? Then the boss is indeed liable for the situation. Just putting another person in charge and washing your hands of it doesn't work if that person isn't competent and you know they aren't competent.

There are members here who are literally defending this psycho, telling us that we hate him solely for his Trump parodies, ignoring the incidents where he's gone off on people and been arrested for physical battery and assault. He got physical with cops and had to be detained in a cell at the local precinct when they gave him a summons for riding his bike the wrong way. He assaulted a man over a parking spot in lower Manhattan, convicted and sentenced to taking an anger management class. He's been booted off a plane for refusing to turn off his phone because he was playing a game. He's gotten into physical altercations at least four time with paparazzi to the point the police have been called. All of these occurred in California or New York, where star struck prosecutors have reduced or dismissed charges.

tl;dr Baldwin is a fat slob with a history of criminal behavior who has evaded responsibility solely because he's a popular Hollywood actor and imbeciles rush to defend him. I hope New Mexico has the balls to prosecute this fat fuck for ignoring safety protocols and killing an innocent woman, manslaughter is entirely appropriate.

 

[Michael Janke]

Be interesting to see what the wounded director has to say. No doubt if he makes a statement that exonerates Baldwin, he’ll go on to much bigger and better things. Hollywood looks after it’s own.

more like how much will Alec promise to pay the director behind the scenes to put in a good word for him?
i could see Alec paying him 5 million to put in a good word.

 

[Smug Cat]

Yeah, a witness quoted him saying "how about I shoot the both of you" right before he shot them, but the police are treating that as a joke for some reason, if one of us said that and shot someone it would automatically be a murder 1 charge

That's his story anyway, others have said he intentionally drew and shot at them while making a threat (jokingly)

No, that was the completely fake 4chan screenshot from earlier in the thread. That is made up. It never happened. It's fiction. They made it up. It's a made-up tale. This one was invented by a writer.

How many fucking times in this thread do I have to correct dumb bitches who can't read?

 

[Shiversblood]

If he was really threatening her with the gun in a fit of anger as a “joke” then he needs to be arrested for 2nd degree murder! I can absoulety believe that he became angry and pulled out the gun to make a threat towards her! This is outrageous that he has not been arrested yet

This is starting to remind me of George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman shot and killed someone and the police dragged their feet and did not arrest him right away, just like how the police are dragging their feet and not arresting Alec Baldwin yet. There needs to be equal justice for all people the rich and poor. Alec Baldwin should not be allowed to use his money to pay off the law. I bet he is counting on his money to get him out of this. Murder is still a crime regardless of how much money you have. The person you killed is still dead even if you are rich or not.

 

[X Pac Heat]

No, that was the completely fake 4chan screenshot from earlier in the thread. That is made up. It never happened. It's fiction. They made it up. It's a made-up tale. This one was invented by a writer.

Can you prove that?

 

[Smug Cat]

Prove it.

It's a screenshot taken from /pol/ that is not corroborated by any other source and doesn't show up in any actual search for the source. You're an idiot.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Some Karens and/or SJWs are triggered because Donald Trump Jr. sells some Alec Baldwin t-shirts saying "Guns don't kill people! Alec Baldwin kills people!"

https://twitter.com/Martina/status/1452736894115135488

Donald Trump Jr. Sells Horrifying Shirt About Alec Baldwin Prop Gun Shooting

The former president's son is attempting to capitalize on the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by outspoken GOP critic Alec Baldwin.

www.huffpost.com

Donald Trump Jr. wasted little time in attempting to capitalize on the tragic prop-gun death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was accidentally killed by actor Alec Baldwin, an outspoken GOP critic.
The former president’s son is now selling shirts and hoodies that read “Guns Don’t Kill People, Alec Baldwin Kills People” on his website for $27.99.

A police search warrant affidavit released Sunday said Baldwin killed Hutchins while rehearsing a “cross draw” that involved him pointing a revolver at the camera where Hutchins and director Joel Souza were standing on the “Rust” movie set last week.
Souza told police he heard a “loud pop” and saw that he and Hutchins were bleeding, according to the New York Post.
Trump Jr. promoted the tasteless shirts on his Instagram Story by photoshopping one on Baldwin’s likeness. He also used Instagram Stories ― which disappear within 24 hours ― to justify his decision to milk someone’s death for monetary gain.
“Screw all the sanctimony I’m seeing out there. If the shoe was on the other foot Alex Baldwin would literally be the first person pissing on everybody’s grave trying to make a point. Fuck him!” Trump Jr. wrote.