Prop Gun Kills Cinematographer

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I haven't read or heard anything anywhere that directly points blame at anyone; haven't read or seen anything that has been proven to be erroneous; and none of the outlets I receive my information from have jumped to any conclusions.
 
In a weird way I think of all the possible actors, it is best if it is an actor-producer combination that this happens to. If it was just any actor accidently shooting it would be so horrible for them, since they really wouldn't be responsible at all for the safety of the production and culture on set (they might be on their first big movie and not have the courage to stand up bad practices or knowledge of what is good practice). But being the producer and acting star, they have way more clout and could/should improve safety conditions etc. and if they don't, well then they are at least much more responsible for the culture that lead to the terrible accident.
 
More details--

Alec Baldwin was practicing a "cross draw" -- pointing his gun at the camera -- when a live round struck the director in the shoulder and the cinematographer fatally in the chest ... this according to new court documents.
Director Joel Souza told Sheriff's investigators he heard someone -- we're told the assistant director -- say "cold gun" while they got ready for the scene ... meaning the gun did not have live rounds in the chambers. Significantly, it appears the gun had been inspected before the lunch break but Souza could not remember if it had been checked when the crew returned.
A cameraman named Reid Russel told authorities, "Alec was trying to explain how he was going to draw out the firearm and where his arm would be when the firearm was pulled from the holster."
Souza explained Baldwin pointed the gun directly at the camera and fired, striking him in the shoulder and Halyna Hutchins in the chest. Souza says he had a vague memory that Hutchins was complaining about her stomach and grabbing her midsection. He says she then began to stumble backward and was assisted to the ground. He says he was bleeding from his shoulder and could see blood on Halyna.
Russel said after the shooting, Halyna said she could not feel her legs. Once on the ground, medics frantically began treating her as she was bleeding on the ground. She was airlifted to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

https://www.tmz.com/2021/10/25/fatal-shooting-cinematographer-struck-chest-rust-alec-baldwin-gun/
 
In the chain of bad practices and decisions, the armorer bears chief responsibility, but Alec bears some copiability, as he's been in enough action films that he ought to know something about gun safety, i.e.
  • Know your target and what is beyond
  • Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction
  • Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire
  • Keep the gun unloaded until ready to use
  • Treat the gun as if it's loaded, even if it's empty
  • Be sure the gun is safe to operate.
  • Use only the correct ammunition for your gun
  • Wear eye and ear protection as appropriate
  • Never use alcohol, over-the-counter drugs or prescription drugs before or while shooting
  • Store guns so they are not accessible to unauthorized persons
  • Keep the gun clean and maintained
 
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"The buck stops with Alec Baldwin on every level" according to former film maker and National Shooting Team Member Peter Lake.
 
Paul F said:
People want news and it comes out in dribs ad drabs. Assumptions are made and they are often wrong. We should take the NTSB's approach to plane crashes and form no opinions about the situation until all the facts come out.

All I know is many lives are ruined from this tragedy. Let us all hope the facts come clearly and appropriate actions are taken and lessons are learned. Let's pray that those who are grieving receive comfort and support to get through the strain of the following weeks, months, and years.
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I agree. We live in a age where people just want instant gratification of information without any concern if all the details are there yet. I would rather get the full accurate story in a few weeks vs inaccurate and misleading information every hour from leaks. This is an ongoing investigation and unless a statement comes directly from the police department anything any "crew member" or friend of a friend of a friend of a guy that once delivered mail to the set gives as information should be ignored and not reported on.

This is how people form opinions about topics before they learn the real truth.

An accident happened and its horrible. Can we now just let the investigation take place and wait for an official explanation? This needing to be the first to break details of a story is disgusting. There was a time when that was important but so was verifying sources and making sure the information was kosher. Today we live in a throw it all out there and let people sort it out later. If they believe the theory enough they will keep paying attention for ratings.
 
Tom Roper said:
"The buck stops with Alec Baldwin on every level" according to former film maker and National Shooting Team Member Peter Lake.
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I'm not entirely sure I agree with that. He is impacted by these events as well and has to live with the fact that he caused the death of someone. Yes there are safety practices but if told the gun was cold and the entire point of the shot was to point the gun at the camera there was no way he could point it away.

This is clearly a shot shooting down the barrel of the gun and no matter how much you may want to try there is only one way to practice and pull off a shoot like that and thats to point at the camera. Where the director and cinematographer happen to be. If an actor is told its safe he is going to put everything he can to make the scene seem believable and realistic. That is his job as an actor. Its the job of the crew to not hand an actor a loaded weapon when they know the nature of the shot is pointing it at the camera and the crew.

The crew royally screwed up here and not Alec Baldwin. If anything perhaps the director and cinematographer should not have been standing right in front of the gun. Alex's job was to get the shot to look right on camera. The director and cinematographer did not need to stand right in front of the gun. They could have used a monitor off to the side for safety reasons just in case. There was really no alternative way for Alec for practice the shot.

Yes he should be careful not to pull the trigger but triggers can be easy to pull and this is why kids playing with guns sometimes shoot themselves or others. I'm sure he took great care in never pulling the trigger but if the shot was an extreme closeup of his hand and gun pointing at the camera there is only so many places for him to stick his finger and not make it look stupid. The entire point of him practicing was to pull off a realistic action. The entire point is that the gun should have been safe and we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now. I'm sure actors accidentally bump or pull the trigger all the time on prop guns or blanks. Especially if they are trying to pull off a complex physical movement like a cross draw.
 
If one wants to do an extreme closeup of a gun shot straight into the camera, one needs a really thick piece of glass in between the gun and the camera (with an appropriate polarizer, if required).
 
DLD said:
If one wants to do an extreme closeup of a gun shot straight into the camera, one needs a really thick piece of glass in between the gun and the camera (with an appropriate polarizer, if required).
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Or not have anybody actually standing in front of said gun would be a good start as well.
 
The Boys series has vowed to eliminate prop guns with blanks and use VFX to add muzzle flashes going forward. They are calling on other productions to do the same.
 
Tom Roper said:
Baldwin pointed a loaded gun at Hutchins and pulled the trigger. She is dead. There is no excuse.
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Were you there? Do you know all the variables and facts? Did Baldwin know when she was standing where she was standing? Set lights blasting down on an actor can make it difficult to see beyond the lens. She could have moved out of a safe position at that moment. You seem very quick to judge. He is definitely liable as a producer for all the lapses in safety. Wether or not he personally was negligent and or reckless as the person holding the gun, we won't know until all the precise details are known.
 
Tom Roper said:
Baldwin pointed a loaded gun at Hutchins and pulled the trigger. She is dead. There is no excuse.
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Thats a very simple take on the situation without knowing all the facts. Do you always use that level of harsh judgement for everyone?

The entire crew told him it was cold. The director and cinematographer stood right in front of the gun. He didn't point it at her. He pointed it exactly where he was instructed to point it. He had a job to do and was instructed by her and the director to do exactly what he did. They were likely standing there to make sure the shot was dramatic and realistic.

Stop trying to blame the actor for a horrible unfortunate accident. I hope someday someone doesn't blame you the same way for something that may be 100% out of your control.
 
It's a common mistake by inexperienced or careless people to believe a semi auto weapon is unloaded. This is because the clip that holds the bullets in the handle can be empty while a live round could be in the chamber. With a revolver you can flip open the cylinder and see if the gun is loaded, where as with a semi you need to remove the clip, point the gun at the ground and carefully pull back the slide to inspect the chamber. I wouldn't be surprised they never inspected the chamber and assumed it to be unloaded.

I can see how movies are dangerous because they have inexperience people handling them, pretending to shoot people. In all other circumstances if you own a gun you have greater respect for it and follow safety practices because it's not a play thing. You would never point a gun at someone even if you knew it was unloaded.
 
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Thomas Smet said:
Stop trying to blame the actor for a horrible unfortunate accident. I hope someday someone doesn't blame you the same way for something that may be 100% out of your control.
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So according to you, Baldwin thought the gun he was in control of was not loaded. The information proved incorrect and Hutchins was killed. So was that a good decision?
 
The union crew leaving for safety reasons may also not have anything to do with a real live round of ammunition somehow finding its way into the gun. This sounds more like a Brandon Lee situation for those of you old enough to remember that one.

Yes this has happened before and it can happen again. Real guns are used as prop guns for realism. They use blanks which do not has the projectile portion but sometimes for whatever odd reason a real live round with a projectile finds its way into the gun. It is a real gun after all. Its the bullets that are fake. Not even fake. Just missing the projectile portion so something fatal doesn't shoot out and impale someone.

In the case of Brandon Lee somehow a live round was stuck I the chamber and when the blank was fired it pushed the projectile out and killed him. This could be a similar situation. Unless Alec Baldwin had some beef with those impacted and purposely snuck on set and loaded the gun with a live round I don't see how this is his fault. The lack of other safety concerns may also not have any bearing on this situation. Exposes cords people could trip on doesn't mean the gun was dangerous. Again we do not know all the facts and getting it piecemeal like this which his more likely theories and guesses is not helping. Don't make the mistake of being swayed by influential media that wants shock to boost ratings.

In every case where a gun with a blank somehow killed someone on set the one pulling the trigger was never at fault. Unless it was some kind of a planned murder like a weird episode of Monk or something like that. This is not Perry Mason or Murder She Wrote so the chances of that are very slim. At least the chances of it being Alex Baldwin are very slim. Some crew member could have swapped out the rounds during lunch I guess but how is that Alec Baldwin's fault?
 
Tom Roper said:
So according to you, Baldwin thought the gun he was in control of was not loaded. The information proved incorrect and Hutchins was killed. So was that a good decision?
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The guy feels bad enough without people like you accusing him.

Yes if the crew, director and cinematographer all tell the actor its safe they are going to believe its safe. Let me ask you this. If the entire crew didn't think it was safe why would they stand right in front of the gun? You make it sound like he was prancing around the set waving the gun around like a madman. He was doing 100% exactly and precisely as instructed by the cinematographer that was killed. They all thought it was safe and thats why he was practicing a cross draw and they were standing right in front of the gun to make sure it was a good performance.

I'm not entirely sure why you are so quick to blame Alec Baldwin here. What has he done to you?

Let me ask you this. Lets say you pick up your car from the shop and driving home you approach a school cross walk and suddenly the brakes fail even though they worked up until that point. In the event you run over and kill three children. Are you to blame or is the fault the repair shop that made a mistake with your brakes? You trusted the repair shop that they fixed the brakes and your initial review when picking up the car was that yes they worked just fine.

You can feel guilty and horrible about the situation and not have it be directly your fault.
 
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There has been some conflicting information regarding the actual shooting. In some reports, I've read Baldwin pulled the trigger, in others, it says it discharged while he pulled it from the holster. One is obviously much more problematic than the other. Also, he was doing a cross draw, so as he pulled the gun from one side his arm would make a sweeping motion as he goes to point. The gun could have discharged anywhere in that movement which would make a big difference in its trajectory.
 
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