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.

 

[X Pac Heat]

Wow that's a whole lot of super melodramatic words to cry about being called an exceptional individual for acting exceptional.

Go back to reddit, faggot.

 

[Smug Cat]

Go back to reddit, faggot.

I might as well already be there with how you speds are acting lmfao

 

[Hippopatumus]

If any of this is remotely true then everyone involved will deservedly be sued into another dimension even if there are no criminal charges. Handing a "hot gun" to an actor without them knowing, in a situation where presumably he has to point it down the lens (the only circumstance I can think of where both the DP and the Director would be hit by the same bullet) requires a level of negligence and incompetence even greater than the fuckup that killed Brandon Lee - that was at least someone failing to spot a problem with a prop, but this sounds like the gun was working as intended. Everyone from the props guy to the studio itself is going to be buried in lawsuits and never make a movie again, and quite right too. If someone really mistook a real gun capable of firing live rounds for a prop gun that can't, that's a criminal level of negligence that almost defies belief. But we all of us have worked places where people are that bad at their jobs, it happens. As an actor you can't second-guess the safety professionals on set - that's going to put you in more danger than blindly trusting them, and open you up to all sorts of liabilities. Baldwin had the right to assume the gun he was holding was the right one, because there's a well-paid guy on set whose exact job it is to make sure that is the case.

I don't like Alec Baldwin. But he's probably the least responsible person here. For some of you guys to assume he was drunk or shooting a loaded gun wildly around a set for some reason (he has decades of experience on sets where there are guns, real and fake) makes you look really fucking pathetic. Like some sped posting an obviously faked and unsourced text image saying he was going all Yosemite Sam on set and you morons falling for it. Jesus fuck, if ANY actor was that irresponsible they wouldn't have the career Baldwin has had, especially considering he's a massive asshole as has been well documented.

Alec Baldwin is suffering right now, and if that's the caveman level of schadenfreude that gets you off, don't go complaining the next time some leftoid celebrates something horrible happening to someone you respect because they don't like their opinions. Alec Baldwin deserves punishment for the bad things he's done over the years, his hypocrisy, his elitist arrogance, his appalling political views, but not for this. This sounds (unless these sources are completely wrong, which I acknowledge is possible) like he actually is one of the victims here.

The difference is we're laughing at Alec Baldwin. The leftoid equivalent would be laughing at the dead lady.

 

[Starscreams Cape]

The Baldwin simps here are truly remarkable. Nobody is seriously saying it's murder except for laughs. But it may be recklessness, which we won't know until the investigation. What we do know is that he had an unqualified, non-union prop guy on the set of the movie he produced. He is in a mountain of legal trouble.

The fact that he has to emotionally live with the fact he pulled a trigger and killed someone is well earned by his history of abominable behavior. Obviously it would have been better not happening because someone is dead, but here we are. Unironically he should take the honorable way out.

 

[kcbbq]

"It's not Baldwins fault, guys!!!!"

I know we got a lot of reddit fags on here, but making fun of the anti gun faggot for being a complete exceptional individual with his gun is still funny.

Oh, it's almost totally likely there's no fault to be placed on him beyond any liability as a producer.

But he pointed a gun at someone, pulled the trigger, and one person was killed and another injured, and that's after all the holier than thought bullshit he's spewed over the years over other people accidentally shooting someone or being placed in a situation where they shot someone. Makes it really, really hard to be sympathetic towards him specifically. It was a tragic accident by any measure, but I am going to hold Baldwin to the standards he demands for others even if I don't hold any other random person to those standards, no matter if the cognitive dissonance it causes in a certain group of posters here gives them the sads.

 

[DMX DA GOAT]

Who gets the Brandon Lee award in this situation? Baldwin or the person he murdered?

 

[Spunt]

So if it’s fake, it’s fake but accurate.

This may be the single most stupid sentence I have ever read on this site and I read Russell Greer's book.

 

[RodgerDodger]

Not anymore; the best stage guns now use compressed air to cycle the bolt & emit a small puff from the muzzle, which is easily turned into a cinematic flash, and they cost about as much as a high-end airsoft or paintball gun. Real firearms don't make much of a blast anyways, and even low-budget productions can easily & cheaply outsource simple CGI like that.

Hell, in the past ten years I've seen a lot of small studio & student short films that have very convincing gunfire effects, easily on par with movies like Blackhawk Down.

I'm pretty sure this low budget union busting clown show wasn't using the best prop guns. They clearly werent using the best prop handlers or the best actors.

 

[X Pac Heat]

Who gets the Brandon Lee award in this situation? Baldwin or the person he murdered?

The person he killed gets the Brandon Lee award. Baldwin gets the Derek Chauvin award since he accidently killed someone doing his job.

 

[Smug Cat]

Tell me then, in what circumstance does an actor point and accidentally shoot a dangerous firearm at production staff then? Where is that in the script? They weren't actors. It wasn't a scene gone wrong like in The Crow. Even if it magically went off on it's own it shouldn't have been pointed at anyone to begin with. It's called basic firearm safety you exceptional individual.

lmao homie you straight posted a completely fake thing and then argued it wasn't actually fake because you feel like it should be real. You might as well be talking about your gender feels. I'm a little bit amazed you guys have managed to rise to the level of the shittiest leftoids in pseudointellectual making-shit-up-ism.

Also you have less than no idea how movie production works and it shows.

 

[kcbbq]

lmao homie you straight posted a completely fake thing and then argued it wasn't actually fake because you feel like it should be real. You might as well be talking about your gender feels. I'm a little bit amazed you guys have managed to rise to the level of the shittiest leftoids in pseudointellectual making-shit-up-ism.

Also you have less than no idea how movie production works and it shows.

One poster did it, and you say everyone on the other side from you all are doing it. Because you demand intellectual honesty. Riiiggghhhhtttt. Insert "why can't i hold all these intellectual honesties?"meme here.

 

[Absurdist Laughter]

I'm pretty amazed, not really, that folks on the farm are making this a political/trump tragedy thing. Facts are: Proper protocol wasn't followed, a "prop gun" is not a prop gun, bullets were fired, life was lost and another injured. This would be a shit storm for any one regardless of politics.

 

[Starscreams Cape]

lmao homie you straight posted a completely fake thing and then argued it wasn't actually fake because you feel like it should be real. You might as well be talking about your gender feels. I'm a little bit amazed you guys have managed to rise to the level of the shittiest leftoids in pseudointellectual making-shit-up-ism.

Also you have less than no idea how movie production works and it shows.

And you have no idea how gun safety works and it shows.

And stop with the tired "LOOK AT THESE SNOWFLAKES!! GET IT? THEY'RE ON THE RIGHT BUT THEY'RE JUST AS BAD AS THE LEFT HAHAHA" bullshit.

Apparently you can't bring yourself to realize that unless you absolutely have to aim at someone and pull the trigger (to either kill them or pretend kill them) you don't do it. "Crew people, you're in the line of fire. Can I ask you to move?" I already know what you're going to say. "Who would think of saying that?" Anybody who's ever owned a gun, faggot.

 

[X Pac Heat]

Also you have less than no idea how movie production works and it shows.

The left would rather their movies not be hindered over saving lives. Sad!

 

[EnemyStand]

FUCK! I had "beating a normie to death in a drunken rage for stealing his parking space!" Who had "accidentally shot a useless part of the Hollywood machine?!"

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

I'm pretty sure this low budget union busting clown show wasn't using the best prop guns. They clearly werent using the best prop handlers or the best actors.

I should've used "safest" instead of "best". The absolute best stage-guns are as close to the real deal as possible, and cost accordingly.

Even a low-budget vanity flick can afford them, except the non-union aspect probably limits what is available for rentals, and most especially anything from established prop houses & artists/technicians.

 

[byuu]

Comparing guns and gun safety to gasoline stunts is fucking exceptional.

How? Pouring gasoline over yourself and igniting it is absolutely something you shouldn't do.
Just like pointing a gun at someone.

Both of these, among countless other stunts, are done all the time in movies under very controlled conditions with their own set of complex rules and guidelines.
Is it Michael Massee's fault for literally doing what he's paid for and something gets fucked up horribly?
Is it Baldwin's fault (assuming he didn't fuck up otherwise like ignoring instructions he was given) for doing the same?

 

[StarkRavingMad]

Friendly reminder that involuntary manslaughter is still a felony.

A lot of people who simp for Hollywood pieces of shit need to know this little factoid before they rush to the defense of this guy before the details come to light.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Alec Baldwin should have deleted some of his own old tweets because the guys of ZeroHedge founded this gem.

https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwln____/status/911425278123048960

That tweet didn't aged well. I begin to wonder if the Trump curse might be on to something since Alec hated with passion Orange Man?

 

[Starscreams Cape]

How? Pouring gasoline over yourself and igniting it is absolutely something you shouldn't do.
Just like pointing a gun at someone.

It's about mitigating risk. Yes, we need you to fire the gun at this actor to get the shot. No, the crew people do not need to be in the line of fire for a head on camera shot.

In your dumb gasoline example the only one in danger is a trained stuntman. When a gun is used on set many people are in danger and most of the time none of them are professionals. WHICH IS WHY YOU MITIGATE RISK WITH COMMON SENSE AND GUN SAFETY. Yes you can say "they told me to pull the trigger and I did it", but there is also nothing that says you can't say "I'm uncomfortable pointing this at crew members, can we clear the line of fire for this pick-up shot, please." This is something anyone who owns a gun would think of.