Alec Baldwin Fatally Shoots Crew Member With Prop Firearm on Film Set,

[Nickdfresh]

Alec Baldwin Fatally Shoots Crew Member With Prop Firearm on Film Set, Authorities Say
The movie’s director of photography was killed and the director was injured on the set of “Rust,” a Western, a sheriff’s office in New Mexico said.

By Alyssa Lukpat
Oct. 21, 2021
Updated 10:51 p.m. ET
The director of photography in an Alec Baldwin movie was killed and the film’s director was injured on Thursday afternoon when the actor fired a prop firearm on the set of a movie in New Mexico, the authorities said.

Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed and Joel Souza, 48, was injured around 1:50 p.m. on the set of “Rust,” a Western being filmed in Santa Fe County, Juan Rios, a spokesman for the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, said. The circumstances of the shooting are under investigation.

Mr. Rios said the shooting at Bonanza Creek Ranch happened in the middle of a scene that was either being rehearsed or filmed. He said the Sheriff’s Office was interviewing people on the set to determine how the two had been shot.

“We’re trying to determine right now how and what type of projectile was used in the firearm,” he said.

Mr. Rios said on Thursday night that the Sheriff’s Office had not filed charges against anyone in connection with the shooting.

Ms. Hutchins was flown to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, where she later died, Mr. Rios said. Mr. Souza was taken to CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe.

The film’s producers and a representative for Mr. Baldwin, 63, did not immediately respond to emails or phone calls on Thursday night.

On Thursday morning, Mr. Baldwin posted a photo on Instagram in his film costume, which included what appeared to be a prosthetic wound on his torso.

A statement from the New Mexico Film Office on Oct. 6 said the movie’s production company, Rust Movie Productions LLC, would employ 75 crew members, 22 actors and 230 “background talent.”

The shooting echoed an accident on a movie set in 1993 in which the actor Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee’s son, was shot and killed during a scene when a bullet that was lodged in the barrel of a gun was discharged along with a blank cartridge.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/us/alec-baldwin-shooting-rust-movie.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-nytimes&fbclid=IwAR2C8709iCk8dWJULbGH2cYIwrrrk1MViy_iNHHRBpx9AlSCkJjsSUFMetc

[FORD]

Makes you wonder where they get these "prop guns" and whether or not somebody ever actually checks them to make sure there's not a round in the chamber.

[Von Halen]

It's a shame Baldwin wasn't shot.

[ZahZoo]

Makes you wonder where they get these "prop guns" and whether or not somebody ever actually checks them to make sure there's not a round in the chamber.

First rule of firearm safety... always point the weapon away from others safely. 2nd rule always keep the weapon safety on, unloaded or no round chambered until it's ready for proper use.

The person who touches the firearm is responsible for it's safe usage.

[Kristy]

If Alec Baldwin spent as much time learning about gun safety as he spent on this comedy routine, THIS woman would not be DEAD.



As I understand, she was a brilliant cinematographer.

[Nickdfresh]

Makes you wonder where they get these "prop guns" and whether or not somebody ever actually checks them to make sure there's not a round in the chamber.

It may well have been a real firearm using blanc cartridges. Sometimes the blancs pack as much as a powder charge as a real bullet, maybe more than a real bullet and if something is in front of it it becomes a projectile...

If Baldwin was irresponsible with this thinking it was 'only a blanc" he deserves manslaughter charges...

[Kristy]

My guess is the gun was loaded with real bullet(s). Why real ammo was being used on a set is anyone's guess apart from this being a low budget film and either the prop master or set directer, line producer or the director himself were too cheap too hire a proper weapons expert on the set. Must be all about realism. I say real because from initial reports the woman seemed to have died on the scene and the other member of the crew was "hit" in the shoulder. Maybe Baldwin fired the weapon too close to the cinematographer and the other crew member (two rounds, right?) which only shows to me how incompetent the producers of this film were. Baldwin may face charges but the director and producers of this film should be charged with gross negligence as well as first degree manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.

[Kristy]

Ha! I was right. According to Yahoo News

"Crew had staged walk-outs because "corners were being cut." And this was not the first weapon misfire."

[twonabomber]

Title should read "Gun control advocate Alec Baldwin"

[FORD]

Given the technology available these days, there's really no need to have a gun that actually fires on a set anyway, blanks or otherwise. Just get a fake gun that looks reasonably real for the shot, and add whatever video & audio effects are needed to "sell" the scene in post production.

CGI doesn't kill anybody, as far as I know.

[twonabomber]

Ha! I was right. According to Yahoo News

"Crew had staged walk-outs because "corners were being cut." And this was not the first weapon misfire."

Non-union prop master.

[Kristy]

Ironically enough, the other person injured on the set was the director himself

[Seshmeister]

First rule of firearm safety... always point the weapon away from others safely. 2nd rule always keep the weapon safety on, unloaded or no round chambered until it's ready for proper use.

The person who touches the firearm is responsible for it's safe usage.

A million comments on this online before anyone knows what happened.

Also surely that doesn't apply to prop guns where the idea is to point at people and fire at them when you don't want to kill them?

[Seshmeister]

Ironically enough, the other person injured on the set was the director himself

There was a story on this that I read in a 'proper' news site today that said that he was seriously injured but released later that day from hospital. Journalism is just getting poorer and poorer.

[FORD]

Alec Baldwin 'Rust' camera crew walked off before shooting

latimes.com
Alec Baldwin 'Rust' camera crew walked off before shooting - Los Angeles Times
Meg James, Amy Kaufman


Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer on the New Mexico set of “Rust” with a prop gun, a half-dozen camera crew workers walked off the set to protest working conditions.

The camera operators and their assistants were frustrated by the conditions surrounding the low-budget film, including complaints about long hours, long commutes and collecting their paychecks, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment.

Safety protocols standard in the industry, including gun inspections, were not strictly followed on the “Rust” set near Santa Fe, the sources said. They said at least one of the camera operators complained last weekend to a production manager about gun safety on the set.

Three crew members who were present at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set on Saturday
said they were particularly concerned about two accidental prop gun discharges.

Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two rounds Saturday after being told that the gun was “cold” — lingo for a weapon that doesn’t have any ammunition, including blanks, two crew members who witnessed the episode told the Los Angeles Times.

“There should have been an investigation into what happened,” said the crew member. “There were no safety meetings. There was no assurance that it wouldn’t happen again. All they wanted to do was rush, rush, rush.”

A colleague was so alarmed by the prop gun misfires he sent a text message to the unit production manager. “We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe,” according to a copy of the message reviewed by The Times.

“The safety of our cast and crew is the top priority of Rust Productions and everyone associated with the company, " Rust Movie Productions said in a statement. “Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down. We will continue to cooperate with the Santa Fe authorities in their investigation and offer mental health services to the cast and crew during this tragic time.”

The tragedy occurred Thursday afternoon during filming of a gunfight that began in a church that is part of the old Western town at the ranch. Baldwin’s character was supposed to back out of the church, according to production notes obtained by The Times. It was the 12th day of a 21-day shoot.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was huddled around a monitor lining up her next camera shot when she was accidentally killed by Baldwin.

The actor was preparing to film a scene in which he pulls a gun out of a holster, according to a source close to the production. Crew members had already shouted “cold gun” on the New Mexico set. The filmmaking team was lining up its camera angles and had yet to retreat to the video village, an on-set area where the crew gathers to watch filming from a distance via a monitor.

Instead, the B-camera operator was on a dolly with a monitor, checking out the potential shots. Hutchins was also looking at the monitor from over the operator’s shoulder, as was the movie’s director, Joel Souza, who was crouching just behind her.

Baldwin removed the gun from its holster once without incident, but the second time he repeated the action, ammunition flew toward the trio around the monitor. The projectile whizzed by the camera operator but penetrated Hutchins near her shoulder, then continued through to Souza. Hutchins immediately fell to the ground as crew members applied pressure to her wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

Late Friday, the Associated Press reported that Baldwin was handed a loaded weapon by an assistant director who indicated it was safe to use in the moments before the actor fatally shot a cinematographer, according to court records. The assistant director did not know the prop gun was loaded with live rounds, according to a search warrant filed in a Santa Fe County court.

The person in charge of overseeing the gun props, known as the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, could not be reached for comment. The 24-year-old is the daughter of veteran armorer Thell Reed and had recently completed her first film as the head armorer for the movie “The Old Way,” with Clint Howard and Nicolas Cage.

Earlier in the day, the camera crew showed up for work as expected at 6:30 a.m. and began gathering up their gear and personal belongings to leave, one knowledgeable crew member told The Times.

Labor trouble had been brewing for days on the dusty set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe.

Shooting began on Oct. 6 and members of the low-budget film said they had been promised the production would pay for their hotel rooms in Santa Fe.

But after filming began, the crews were told they instead would be required to make the 50-mile drive from Albuquerque each day, rather than stay overnight in nearby Santa Fe. That rankled crew members who worried that they might have an accident after spending 12 to 13 hours on the set.

Hutchins had been advocating for safer conditions for her team, said one crew member who was on the set and was tearful when the camera crew left.

“She said, ‘I feel like I’m losing my best friends,’” recalled one of the workers.

As the camera crew — members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — spent about an hour assembling their gear at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, several nonunion crew members showed up to replace them, two of the knowledgeable people said.

One of the producers ordered the union members to leave the set and threatened to call security to remove them if they didn’t leave voluntarily.

“Corners were being cut — and they brought in nonunion people so they could continue shooting,” the knowledgeable person said.

The shooting occurred about six hours after the union camera crew left.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched to the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set, where filming was underway for the western “Rust,” after calls to 911 at 1:50 p.m. Thursday. Baldwin was starring in the movie in addition to serving as one of the producers.

No charges have been filed, but the Sheriff’s Office said that “witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.”

Baldwin said Friday he’s “fully cooperating with the police investigation” into the incident.

“There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” Baldwin wrote Friday in a series of tweets.

Production has been halted on the low-budget movie.

In an email to its members, Local 44 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, a union that represents prop masters, said the shot that killed Hutchins and injured Souza on Thursday was “a live single round.”

“As many of us have already heard, there was an accidental weapons discharge on a production titled Rust being filmed in New Mexico,” said the North Hollywood-based local. “A live single round was accidentally fired on set by the principal actor, hitting both the Director of Photography, Local 600 member Halyna Hutchins, and Director Joel Souza. Both were rushed to the hospital,” the email said. The New Mexico-based crew were represented by a different local.

A source close to union said Local 44 does not know what projectile was in the gun and clarified that “live” is an industry term that refers to a gun being loaded with some material such as a blank ready for filming.

Bonanza Creek Ranch has been a popular filming location for more than 60 years. The first movie to film there was “The Man From Laramie,” starring Jimmy Stewart. It also was the set for the classic “Blazing Saddles,” “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and the popular TV show “Longmire.”

One of the financiers for “Rust” is Santa Monica-based lender BondIt Media Capital, founded in 2013 by Matthew Helderman and Luke Taylor. According to its website, BondIt finances movies through instruments including gap loans, bridge loans and tax credit financing.

The company has primarily financed low-budget movies including the Bruce Willis actioner “Hard Kill,” the Charlotte Kirk horror flick “The Reckoning” and the upcoming Robert De Niro film “Wash Me in the River,” directed by Randall Emmett.

BondIt was particularly active during the COVID-19 pandemic, stepping in to fill financing gaps as independent producers struggled to find backing for films during the public health crisis.

Times staff writers Wendy Lee, Anousha Sakoui, Ryan Faughnder, Richard Winton, Josh Rottenberg and Scott Wilson contributed to this report.
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This is what happens when you hire low wage scabs. I suspect there's going to be some charges filed over this shit...