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.

 

[John.Doe]

“It would all be irrelevant” meaning even if the armorer set out to see a murder happen; you hold her not accountable. Ridiculous. And Alec guilty of Murder. Ridiculous.

Multiple people can have the same or different levels of legal responsibility for an unlawful homicide. In this case, both Hannah Reed and Alec Baldwin committed involuntary manslaughter.

I don't know whats so ridiculous about charging someone with manslaughter if they've pointed what they know is a real gun at someone and pulled the trigger without personally verifying it is unloaded and death results from that act. (And the New Mexico Supreme Court agrees with me so....)

I will never, ever come over to your line of thinking that Alec will ever bear the majority of the responsibility in this; whether right or wrong I never shall.

You believe in psychic Germans and magical corpse vaporizers, so we already knew your brain was cooked.

 

[St.Davis]

...and I've taken weapons from others whom I trust and when they say there are no munitions or munitions, I have taken their word for it and not checked.

You are unequivocally not someone I would ever trust for advice on firearm safety. In your mad dash to defend Alec's honour you are outing yourself as a person who should never, ever be trusted with a firearm.

I don't know whats so ridiculous about charging someone with manslaughter if they've pointed what they know is a real gun at someone and pulled the trigger without personally verifying it is unloaded and death results from that act. (And the New Mexico Supreme Court agrees with me so....)

Well, it's different because he's an actor. He isn't beholden to the same rules that a normal person would have to follow. He just forgot basic firearm safety, it's not like he's got any experience with this sort of thing, y'know?

 

[SBG]

You are unequivocally not someone I would ever trust for advice on firearm safety. In your mad dash to defend Alec's honour you are outing yourself as a person who should never, ever be trusted with a firearm.



Well, it's different because he's an actor. He isn't beholden to the same rules that a normal person would have to follow. He just forgot basic firearm safety, it's not like he's got any experience with this sort of thing, y'know?

I liked when Nicholas Cage was asked about this story. He talked a little about his when you’re a big actor you have to know or learn to do a ton of stuff to do fight scenes or riding horses and so on. So Baldwin not learning how to handle firearms didn’t make sense as you’re supposed to learn these things to really perform in these movies.

For some reason many just decided to give him a pass anyway figuring actors are useless and not supposed to really know anything. Which is a bit weird given how many treat them as fountains of knowledge.


Edit:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/nicolas-cage-andrew-garfield-jonathan-majors-actor-roundtable-1235069392/

Thought I'd look up his comments rather than rely on my memory. Was from a roundtable with a few actors.

People are talking about safety more in the industry now because of the tragedy that happened on Rust. There’s some discussion of whether there should be guns on sets at all. What do you think?

CAGE I don’t want to cast blame anywhere. But I do think, and I’m not talking about anybody, but people don’t like the word movie star. We want to be humble actors. But a movie star is a bit of a different kind of presentation because you need to know how to ride a horse. You need to know how to fight. You’re going to do fight scenes. You need to know how to ride a motorcycle. You need to know how to use a stick shift and drive sports cars, and you do need to know how to use a gun. You do. You need to take the time to know what the procedure is. Those are part of the job profiles.

Now, the stunt man and the movie star are two jobs that coexist. Every stunt man needs to be a movie star, and every movie star needs to be a stunt man. That’s just part of the profile, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.

I feel like he was trying to be polite about it, while being disgusted with how Baldwin was so incompetent in comparison to the other actors basically just going "yeah that was bad".

Was also a little surprised to find out the armorer had pissed off Cage in the past on a different film by firing a gun a couple times over the course of a few days without any warning.

Inexperienced 'Rust' Armorer Drew Numerous Complaints for Last Film

A crew member on Nicolas Cage's "The Old Way" demanded firing of armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, but she went on to handle guns on "Rust"

www.thewrap.com

 

[John.Doe]

For some reason many just decided to give him a pass anyway figuring actors are useless and not supposed to really know anything. Which is a bit weird given how many treat them as fountains of knowledge.

For Alec Baldwin its doubly ironic, he sits on the board of at least one gun control group and has given several speeches talking about how dangerous and terrible guns are to society. (So only the government should have them, you know.)

 

[MadStan]

You are unequivocally not someone I would ever trust for advice on firearm safety. In your mad dash to defend Alec's honour you are outing yourself as a person who should never, ever be trusted with a firearm.



Well, it's different because he's an actor. He isn't beholden to the same rules that a normal person would have to follow. He just forgot basic firearm safety, it's not like he's got any experience with this sort of thing, y'know?

Ridiculous. The odds of me having a gun accident are more remote than my driving up your ass in traffic and killing you.

Really, you gun types go way too far on your safety shit. It’s just a weapon. I’m surrounded by equipment every day that will kill
You. But you keep worrying about that gun hidden away somewhere.

Guns kill; other things kill a lot more than guns so forgive me if I don’t panic like a lunatic about your scripture.

 

[St.Davis]

Ridiculous. The odds of me having a gun accident are more remote than my driving up your ass in traffic and killing you.

Really, you gun types go way too far on your safety shit. It’s just a weapon. I’m surrounded by equipment every day that will kill
You. But you keep worrying about that gun hidden away somewhere.

Guns kill; other things kill a lot more than guns so forgive me if I don’t panic like a lunatic about your scripture.

You're doing the equivalent of grabbing a bare cable because someone told you they turned the right breaker off, without even doing a cursory check with a multimeter. I don't understand why you're trying to flex by admitting to being an unsafe retard.

I'm sure Baldwin thought this way as well. It turned out real well for him.

 

[TheDarknessGrows]

You're doing the equivalent of grabbing a bare cable because someone told you they turned the right breaker off, without even doing a cursory check with a multimeter. I don't understand why you're trying to flex by admitting to being an unsafe retard.

Yeah that post just made me glad I am not that dude's coworker. He'd probably bypass a tag-out because it was in the way.

Those guys have "accidents"...

 

[MadStan]

You're doing the equivalent of grabbing a bare cable because someone told you they turned the right breaker off, without even doing a cursory check with a multimeter. I don't understand why you're trying to flex by admitting to being an unsafe retard.

I'm sure Baldwin thought this way as well. It turned out real well for him.

“Someone” is someone I trust and know. Not just anybody. That person is someone I trust with my life. Not some lackey hired for the day.

I carry my meter with me. I check. But if they are the type to forget to turn off a breaker they are just as likely to be the type to turn it on while you are working on it. Again, know who you can trust. If a guy told me he had killed the breaker and the circuit was live, there wouldn’t be a second chance or a warning - they’d be out the door.

I have confidence in who I have confidence in. That’s on me. And I’m OK with that. It’s my funeral, not yours.

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

The armorer is more responsible.

Have you ever worked a day of work? In a company, in a factory or an office?

I'm the boss of a factory, i hire people who I know are propably crap at their job, but it's a friends daughter and she's ok at the job, she runs the health and safety department. In my factory we have machines on the assembly lines that I know are faulty and maybe dangerous, the HS girl knows theyre dangerous but only does a half job at keeping the place safe.

One day, someone on the shop floor dies due to unsafe working practices. Safety, aside from being everyones responsibility, is the primary responsibility of HS.

Who goes to jail? Me, as the boss, or HS girl as head of HS? Spoiler: It's me.

 

[MadStan]

Have you ever worked a day of work? In a company, in a factory or an office?

I'm the boss of a factory, i hire people who I know are propably crap at their job, but it's a friends daughter and she's ok at the job, she runs the health and safety department. In my factory we have machines on the assembly lines that I know are faulty and maybe dangerous, the HS girl knows theyre dangerous but only does a half job at keeping the place safe.

One day, someone on the shop floor dies due to unsafe working practices. Safety, aside from being everyones responsibility, is the primary responsibility of HS.

Who goes to jail? Me, as the boss, or HS girl as head of HS? Spoiler: It's me.

I’ve worked in factories (long time ago) and office, corporate etc.

But your example is a poor one. Firstly, the armorer was not the equivalent of a HS officer - more like a fucking pilot on a plane tbh. Secondly you haven’t proved anyone in the company that hired Hannah had any reason to believe she was terrible at her job - you’d be the guy to blame the CEO of McDonalds for a poisoned burger in Seoul half way across the globe.

 

[John.Doe]

It’s my funeral, not yours.

Until you pull the trigger and shoot an innocent cinematographer all because you didn't want to take ten seconds to ask 'why are we using a real gun for this rehearsal instead of a rubber stunt gun?'

Then its an innocent wife and mother having the funeral.

 

[AnOminous]

If a drunk driver hit and killed your family, would you be saying the same thing? After all, they (the drunk drivers) are morons too.

No because I'd be completely biased. And DWI is an actual crime the person intentionally committed.

You are unequivocally not someone I would ever trust for advice on firearm safety. In your mad dash to defend Alec's honour you are outing yourself as a person who should never, ever be trusted with a firearm.

Alec himself should never be trusted with a firearm. He'll have to live with most people thinking that if it weren't for the state fucking up and doing a Brady violation (and I will assume having a better and more expensive lawyer), he'd be in jail too.

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

So are they going to release this 'Rust' movie or what?

 

[Iron Hamster]

So are they going to release this 'Rust' movie or what?

They have to since Hutchins husband was named executive producer as part of the settlement and gets a cut now. They're seeking distribution.

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

Theme of this thread.

 

[nigel p poppycock]

MadStan said:
...and I've taken weapons from others whom I trust and when they say there are no munitions or munitions, I have taken their word for it and not checked.

This is the dumbest thing I've read in a long time and I just came from the Patrick Sean Tomlinson thread.

I realize you're trying to make some kind of point (I guess) but don't ever trust someone else when it comes to a firearm Ever. Like, ever, ever, ever.

 

[Hazel Motes]

Baldwin's been doing this since the 1980s.

"Stop or I'll shoot."
"You just shot me!"
"I fired a warning shot; it hit ya."

 

[Expenses2999]

So are they going to release this 'Rust' movie or what?

It premiered Wednesday (2024-11-20) in Poland. [A]

 

[Rome's rightful successor]

It premiered Wednesday (2024-11-20) in Poland. [A]

Ah, a quiet release. They want to pretend this movie never happened.

 

[AnOminous]

Ah, a quiet release. They want to pretend this movie never happened.

That's sort of the opposite of when Brandon Lee got killed making The Crow, which probably actually made the movie do better commercially because of its edgelord audience.