Actor Alec Baldwin shoots 2 people, killing one of them.
The incident occurred on the set of “Rust,” an independent feature that was filming at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, a popular production location south of Santa Fe.
Hutchins, 42, was transported by helicopter to University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, where she died. Souza, 48, was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe, where he was receiving emergency care.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office said in a statement that Hutchins and Souza “were shot when a prop firearm was discharged by Alec Baldwin, 68, producer and actor.”
No one was arrested in the incident, and no charges have been filed, the office said. Detectives were interviewing witnesses, and the incident remains under an “open and active” investigation, according to the Sheriff’s office.
Baldwin’s reps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hutchins’ death was confirmed by the Sheriff’s office and by the International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600.
Source: https://variety.com/2021/film/news/alec-baldwin-rust-incident-santa-fe-1235094931/
Oh man, someone's going to have a hell of a lawsuit, after The Crow the industry put in all sorts of safeguards to insure that shouldn't be able to happen, most prop guns are no longer even capable of firing a bullet after modification. I wonder if a weld or solder plug broke loose and that's what was ejected from the barrel, blank loads are made to be louder and flashier than the real thing for cinematic purposes and can kill or injure even without a projectile being present.
_________________
“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson
Kraichgauer
Veteran
Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 47,795
Location: Spokane area, Washington state.
It'll be interesting to see who (besides Mr Baldwin) is charged, and what they are charged with in this case - You'd have several people (including an armorer, and director) who would have to sign off that the firearm was not loaded\was deactivated\was loaded with blanks before it would be allowed on set, presumably...And if it hadn't gone through that process, then the owner\supplier of the gun would also potentially have legal liability.
Either way, Mr Baldwin is likely looking at the following as the highest "severity" charge (among a number of others), although a murder charge (second degree) is also theoretically possible:
30.2.3
B. Involuntary manslaughter consists of manslaughter committed in the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to felony, or in the commission of a lawful act which might produce death in an unlawful manner or without due caution and circumspection.
Whoever commits involuntary manslaughter is guilty of a fourth degree felony.
Source: https://www.lawserver.com/law/state/new-mexico/nm-statutes/new_mexico_statutes_30-2-3
A defendant convicted of a fourth-degree felony in New Mexico generally faces up to 18 months in prison and a fine up to $5,000
Source: https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defense/felony-offense/new-mexico-felony-class.htm
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hb-cop-shooting-video-20170922-story.html?_amp=true
Source: https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwln____/status/911425278123048960
Aside from all the various other safety practices used on film sets with prop firearms, protocol is to never actually aim at other actors when firing blanks, they use camera angles to make it look like they are, but they're supposed to aim slightly off in order to avoid even the remote possibility of a tragedy like this. Alec Baldwin has been in a number of action movies over the years, so he ought to know this, I wonder if this is some sort of catastrophic failure, like a gun actually blowing up.
_________________
“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson
Sounds like the death of Brandon Lee on the set of the Crow.
As I understand it - in that movie - loading the gun was shown onscreen as part of the plotline - so they first had to load the pistol with fake bullets that looked real - cartridges with pointed projectiles, but with no powder- then offscreen had to remove THOSE fake bullets, and replace them with blanks- which are bullets WITH powder but without projectiles- but one of the original fake bullets had accidently (and unbeknownst to everyone) come apart in the gun and the projectile part stayed jammed into the gun- so when the cameras rolled again, and when the other actor fired blanks at Lee- that fake blank bullet had momentarily become (in effect) a real whole bullet because the powder charge of the blank was pushing a real projectile out of the barrel at Lee. Hence the tragedy.
Which raises another important point: It wasn't cast members who he shot, but was a cinematographer and a directed, both "off-screen" roles, who would have had no reason to be in (and should not have been anywhere near) where the firearm was pointed.
Strangely, there hasn't been any announcement as to how many shots were fired (single\multiple), and it is currently only speculation as to whether it was "aimed", or merely the result of the projectile hitting something and ricocheting\passing through a wall and hitting people who were not visible to him\result of pellet spread (should it have been something like a shotgun, rather than a handgun - I don't recall if the type of firearm has been published).
Given he had on several occassions made posts on social media referencing "shooting" people he disagreed with, a level of scepticism as to whether it was unintentional is justified, but at present there isn't much information available regarding what occurred to reach any conclusions\opinions.
Social media chatter (literally, so don't quote me) is saying that it was a "looking down the barrel" shot, and that's why it was the director and cinematographer who were hit as they were behind the camera when it happened. If that's true, I'm starting to get a clearer picture, as I'm going to guess this involved a revolver, and they would have wanted to show the cylinder rotating into place for that sort of shot, which means something that looks like live ammo would be in the cylinder as that is visible from the front. This really does sound like Brandon Lee all over again, like someone tried to make up home brew dummy rounds instead of using special Hollywood ones that are manufactured as inert, and a live one slipped through. You wouldn't fire a blank directly at the camera, and it wouldn't have looked right during the shot from the front (blanks have crimped fronts and look nothing like live ammo), so I'm going to speculate that this was a fully live round that got in by mistake, something that shouldn't have been anywhere near the set in the first place.
_________________
“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson
Social media chatter (literally, so don't quote me) is saying that it was a "looking down the barrel" shot, and that's why it was the director and cinematographer who were hit as they were behind the camera when it happened. If that's true, I'm starting to get a clearer picture, as I'm going to guess this involved a revolver, and they would have wanted to show the cylinder rotating into place for that sort of shot, which means something that looks like live ammo would be in the cylinder as that is visible from the front. This really does sound like Brandon Lee all over again, like someone tried to make up home brew dummy rounds instead of using special Hollywood ones that are manufactured as inert, and a live one slipped through. You wouldn't fire a blank directly at the camera, and it wouldn't have looked right during the shot from the front (blanks have crimped fronts and look nothing like live ammo), so I'm going to speculate that this was a fully live round that got in by mistake, something that shouldn't have been anywhere near the set in the first place.
Strange that the camera wasn't set up, then "crew" moved away from camera prior to discharge of firearm, though... There shouldn't really have been a need for the camera to move much (if at all) for that type of footage to be captured, after all.
Eh, a lot of directors and cinematographers like to see their shot in action, and if this happened like I think, they weren't expecting anything to happen, they may have even wanted him to pull the trigger multiple times to get the perfect lighting or something. I'm just spitballing though, we'll have to wait for more information to come out about the circumstances, though things don't sound good for the set armorer regardless.
_________________
“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson
Kraichgauer
Veteran
Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 47,795
Location: Spokane area, Washington state.
I was wondering how long before somebody else noticed.
Again no sympathy expressed for the victim of the accident, her name was Halyna Hutchins and she was a cinematographer
Kraichgauer
Veteran
Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 47,795
Location: Spokane area, Washington state.
I was wondering how long before somebody else noticed.
Again no sympathy expressed for the victim of the accident, her name was Halyna Hutchins and she was a cinematographer
_________________
-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer
Similar Topics | |
---|---|
Versitile actor Carl Weathers R.I.P. |
04 Feb 2024, 3:15 am |
Faking it trolls against autistic reality TV actor |
Today, 11:15 am |
What do people expect people of a certain age to look like? |
29 Feb 2024, 9:19 pm |
How Many People Are Here These Days? |
18 Apr 2024, 12:50 pm |