Waitwaitwait…WHUT?!?
Ho. Lee. SHIT.
UPDATED with more law enforcement information: The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department confirmed Thursday night that Alec Baldwin “discharged” the prop gun that killed one Rust crew member and injured director Joel Souza on the set of the Western feature film on location in New Mexico.
Director of photography Halyna Hutchins, 42, died not long after being transported to a hospital in Albuquerque, NM this afternoon. Souza, 48, remains in a local hospital; his condition is unknown.
“Mr. Baldwin was questioned by investigators and released,” a Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department official told Deadline this evening. “No arrests or charges have been filed.”
No, of course not. Unlikely there ever will be. Meanwhile, responsible, well-trained teenager Kyle Rittenhouse faces a very uncertain future at best, having A) shot someone in as clear-cut a case of self-defense as can be imagined, and B) no helpful connections among the wealthy, famous, and/or powerful, in sharp contrast to the unhinged asshole Baldwin. From the Santa Fe SD’s official statement:
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set of the western “Rust”, October 21, 2021, when an 911 caller reported a shooting on the set.
The sheriff’s office confirms that two individuals were shot on the set of Rust. Halyna Hutchins, 42, director of photography and Joel Souza, 48, director, were shot when a prop firearm was discharged by Alec Baldwin, 68, producer and actor.
Ms. Hutchins was transported, via helicopter, to University of New Mexico Hospital where she was pronounced dead by medical personnel. Mr. Souza was transported by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical center where he is undergoing treatment for his injuries.
This investigation remains open and active. No charges have been filed in regard to this incident. Witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.
Baldwin, natch, is one of innumerable sanctimonious Hollywood gun-grabbers who flaunt their shameless hypocrisy by creating, acting in, promoting, and personally profiting from one guns ‘n’ gore-drenched feature film after another. Baldwin’s readily obvious ignorance and recklessness when it comes to the proper handling of firearms is even more appalling in light of his extensive record of violence, abuse, and over-entitled obstreperousness (sanitized as “a long history of fiery behavior” in the linked article).
And now, two guiltless people have been shot, one of them killed, by this “fiery” prick, waving a loaded gun around in total disregard for the safety of others nearby. How long will it be, I wonder, before we’re treated to the BLOCKBUSTER interview wherein he whines and pules at narcissistic length about how the REAL victim here is…Alec Fucking Baldwin.
(Via GP)
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They said it was a “prop gun”.
Am I missing something here?
Even if an accident that somehow a “prop gun” actually fired and hit someone with…something, how do you shoot again and hit another person and it still be an “accident”.
There’s more in depth journalism for ya!
Not asking the questions that really needed to be asked.
Also, how did the police solve that inconsistency?
Stinky like a fish rotting in Denmark.
Unbelievable. There are supposed to be stringent safety rules for handling guns on film sets. They’re supposed to be in the charge of a prop master, and maybe even a specialized prop master who just handles the firearms. You can’t just go pick it up off a table and start waving it around like Yosemite Sam. I always assumed a prop gun was a non-working gun, just like bottles and furniture broken in onscreen fights are made of light, easily breakable material so people won’t get hurt. Did they decide to use REAL guns for this movie? Did Baldwin think it wasn’t real, and no harm would come of pointing it at someone and blasting away? Even if that were the case, he shouldn’t have been able to do what he did, if proper safety measures were being followed.
Over at American Thinker, Wanda, there’s an excellent article by Andrea Widburg – Anti-Gun Actor Alex Baldwin Shot a Woman to Death – answering many of your questions.
Sorry Gramps, Widburg article doesn’t answer any of Wanda’s questions.
Also, get this, he pities and feels compassion for Baldwin. WTF.
To whom this applies, spare me your butthurt.
1) Of course they use real guns on movie sets. Since ever. File under “Duh!”
2) Some propmaster dun fucked up, massively, and should shortly be charged for manslaughter and aggravated battery via gross negligence. there should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER be live rounds on set, let alone anywhere near prop weapons.
3) It’s not the actor’s job to ensure safety of prop weapons used on set, it’s the propmaster and the weapons handlers’s job. Weapons are supposed to be double-checked on loading to prevent this sort of cock-up.
4) It’s obvious that when Baldwin was shooting, he was, almost certainly exactly per rehearsals and blocking, aiming at the camera. Which is where the director of photography and director sit during filming, 90% of the time.
And in real life, there’s no way to tell you’ve fired a real bullet rather than a blank after the first shot, until bodies hit the ground. Blood doesn’t explode from people’s chests, they just crumple. Be glad it was a western, and not a gangster film. He could have taken out a swath of people, instead of jut the two he hit.
5) Andrea Widburg’s commentary about gun safety at American Thinker only proves that she’s a cinematic idiot, who should STFU when she’s in over her head. But she won’t.
6) I said for 20+ years in motion picture production, even allowing for “only using blanks”, it borders on professional incompetence to ever hand an actor any weapon not made of rubber. Because they’re idiots. Like 99.9999% of them, by actual observation. Triply so around weaponry of all types, or anything even sharp.
7) The takeaway isn’t that @$$hole Baldwin will not be charged; he bears exactly no culpability nor intent for the crime. That’s as it should be. Don’t be stupid about this.
8) What you should be focusing on, is that despite that reality, you can now claim, FOREVER, that exactly like Ted Kennedy’s car, Alec Baldwin has killed more people with guns than your/my/anyone’s collection of misnamed “assault” weapons have, ever.
9) He’ll NEVER be able to escape that legacy, not even when he dies, and he’s going to hear it 1000 times a die until that happy occasion. It’s gpoing to be on bumper stickers, lapel buttons, memes, and a gajillion other things, for all time. He’s just taken himself out of the anti-gun speaking pool forever!
10) If that reality, and not the imaginary injustice of not charging him with the killing that wasn’t his fault, doesn’t warm your heart, you’re simply a lunatic.
Learn to take “YES!” for an answer from the Fates.
And just to doubly piss you off a little more, this one of the reasons that motion picture productions that have fled SoCal to non-union states always have these sorts of fuck-ups. When productions go off the reservation and hire unprofessional non-union fuck-ups for a cut rate, and they get what they pay for. In this case, a dead DP, and a wounded director, and an actor who will, to a metaphysical certainty be justifiably scarred for life.
He’s a victim of a cheapass production, and a total fuck-up and homicidal weapons master.
And karma is a cast-iron bitch.
QED
I have heard, but cannot verify as true, that they were not filming at the time, and it was after a take the Director didn’t like and wanted it done again.
24-48 hour rule here. There is some anomalies that need to be cleared up.
Agreed. I look forward to Baldwin getting whatever he deserves, when the whole story comes out. He’s also the producer, so a certain amount of culpability – including in a legal and financial sense – applies no matter how this happened.
If it turns out that he was, in fact, deliberately fucking around and found out , I hope the entire judicial system of New Mexico lands on his ass, and puts him in prison for manslaughter.
But regardless of which way that goes, it’s undeniably true that forvever and all time, Alec Baldwin has killed more people with guns than my entire firearms collection has since I’ve owned it.
And 150M Americans can make the same claim.
That bumper sticker is never going to get old.
“non-union”
I’d bet the vast majority of highly skilled weapons practitioners are not “union”.
There is not one job that unions don’t fuck-up.
The “vast majority of highly-skilled weapons practitioners” are paid professionals (most forbidden by law from union organizing) who work for the government. When they retire, they become consultants to Hollywood.
Three people dead from firearms mishaps in an entire industry over literally decades argues that non-union is not the way to go there.
Hollywood’s safety record with firearms is better than any range you’ve been to in your entire life, as all those bullet holes in the ceiling and walls will attest in about 5 seconds’ careful perusal.
Non-union in Hollywood = low-budget amateur wannabe.
Thursday’s incident shows the one most obvious difference between the union guy who gets $500/day, and the non-union guy who gets $200/day: no bodycount at the end of the day.
Or it means that Hollywood Unions have become as corrupted and evil and insane as the rest of the Leftists.
After all, to switch out the blanks for live ammo in the hope someone gets killed and the non-union guy gets the blame is really sick and evil.
N’est cé pas?
48 hour rule.
NYT, LAT, and TMZ: same stories, different sourcing, details filled in from all angles:
Nobody switched out anything. 24y.o. inexperienced, incompetent prop dimbulb left a live round in the gun. which was supposed to be totally empty, i.e. no blanks, no nothing, which was later handed to Baldwin by an AD for a rehearsal, who told him (and thought that) it was “cold”, i.e. completely empty, and during that rehearsal, Baldwin fired once, towards the camera, which hit the DP and the director, and barely missed the 1st asst. cameraman (who generally sits hunched over keeping the focus spot on for the shot).
The rest of the union camera crew had left hours earlier, because of complaints including lax to non-existent gun safety, including 2 prior separate NDs involving guns that were also supposed to be unloaded.
Criminally, this is all on the Pixie Twit; financially, the prod. co., w/ Baldwin as producer, is going to eat a large liability civil suit.
Unless Pixie Twit has him on video ordering her to be an competent jackhole, or some other wild fairytale, he’s not going to be criminally liable in any way and she’s going to be fighting uphill to allege he hired her and told her to do a shoddy job, and she agreed.
She’s likely toast. Looking at 18 mo, criminal time in the NM state pen for involuntary manslaughter via gross negligence.
Sometimes you’re a real dickwad.
Suppose the picture was going down the tubes and Baldwin was taking a bath on it and he snapped and shot those people because he switched the blanks out. Then shot them and tries to blame it on the non union prop guy.
How about we wait for someone other than TMZ Clickbait to hear the story before we make up and try Baldwin in the media?
Now, fuck off, you twat who can’t take anyone having a different opinion. Cause you’re smart, not dumb like people say.
Fredosop.
I’m not a union member and I know something about gun safety.
One, never point the damn thing at something you do not intend to destroy. There is no exception for union members or actors. It’s that simple.
While hollywood may have a “good record” for gun safety, well, why shouldn’t they have a good record? Hell, they should be using blanks, not bullets.
My gun range has a perfect record. No union involved, and live rounds exclusively.
Back in the days when I was going to the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot twice a year and working as a range officer, on the main (upper) range there were two (2!) GE miniguns available for shooters so inclined to rent. You could buy ammo at 25 cents a round; drop 2-300 bucks and you’d get the incomparable thrill of pulling God’s Own Giant Zipper (hey, that’s what it sounds like) for a few brief seconds. I swear, people would walk away from that sweating profusely, visibly trembling, and with this humongous grin on their faces.
Point being: one of the two miniguns was owned by a fella whose young (early teens, I believe) daughter helped him out as and when. And this one year, somehow one of the bolts anchoring the thing either broke or somehow was torn loose. The minigun violently flipped backwards…onto this poor young girl, killing her. It was AWFUL. I wasn’t close by when it happened, for which I am profoundly thankful. I can’t even begin to imagine what the father went through, and almost certainly still is. A true horror show for sure. But yeah, Aesop, your point about Hollywood’s track record for gun safety is well-taken. I’ll have more to say on this incident shortly, all of which we probably won’t agree completely on, and that’s perfectly okay. But on the movie industry having done pretty damned well overall where gun safety is concerned, yeah, we’re in agreement there.
“It’s not the actor’s job…”
While there may be multiple safeguards employed, the person holding the weapon is 100% responsible.
Except when they’re filming or rehearsing. Then his job is to point the gun at whomever the script says to point it at and fire.
It’s a sticky situation here. If Baldwin didn’t know it was not blanks in there then somebody either set him up for a shooting once filming started or someone screwed up royally but not him.
Exactly.
It’s not the actor’s job to ever be the weapons safety expert.
Not once; not in a million years.
It’s impractical, and based on direct observation, it’s like putting the live hand grenades in the retarded kid’s crib for safekeeping.
Alec Baldwin is probably one of the last people I’d want to have check a gun for safety.
Yep.
Sorry you’re all wrong. The person holding the weapon is responsible, and as with any weapon, it should never be pointed at anything.
You don’t get to abdicate your responsibility because you’re an actor.
Nope.
Obviously, we need common sense actor control.
IQ tests. Set the bar at 85 and up.
We’d only lose about half of them, right off the bat.
Not just actors: everyone “above the line”: producers, directors, actors, etc.
“If it saves just one life…“
Half is not enough. Raise it to 90 and we snare 99%.