Alec Baldwin shoots and kills a woman, injures a man.

[woolfe9998]

It's like the premise to a Murder She Wrote episode.

Was thinking the same thing. If it was an old style murder mystery, the solution would be that the victim loaded the gun herself, wanting Baldwin to shoot her so that he would be blamed for it. All because she was his mistress and he dumped her after denying the baby was his.

 

[sandorski]

Was thinking the same thing. If it was an old style murder mystery, the solution would be that the victim loaded the gun herself, wanting Baldwin to shoot her so that he would be blamed for it. All because she was his mistress and he dumped her after denying the baby was his.

Wouldn't be surprised if it was an episode.

 

[skyking]

I listened to this story a couple of times on NPR. The morning's story was spare, but it got fleshed out by interviews this afternoon.
It seems that the movie was on a shoestring budget, and all the crew were working long hours and under pressure. The set was a ranch that likely had the firearms there, so the chain of possession was not followed properly in terms of the "armorer" handling the weapons. I use "armorer" in quotes because the crew interviews of long hours over worked etc.
The bottom line is they probably did not follow the standard protocol and really did not have a trained armorer. The gun had live ammo because guns on a ranch would have.
Ironically the deceased and many of the people in the production had stood in solidarity in a photo op with International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) when they were about to strike about conditions and pay.
"The assistant director of the western film “Rust” grabbed a prop pistol from a gray cart and handed it to the movie’s star, Alec Baldwin, shouting “cold gun!” — which was supposed to indicate that it did not contain any live rounds, and was safe to handle around the crew huddled by the camera."

Does that sound like an armorer to you?
Fucking management got somebody killed.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/10/22/us/alec-baldwin-shooting-movie-set

 

[Vic]

Was thinking the same thing. If it was an old style murder mystery, the solution would be that the victim loaded the gun herself, wanting Baldwin to shoot her so that he would be blamed for it. All because she was his mistress and he dumped her after denying the baby was his.

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

 

[pmv]

I listened to this story a couple of times on NPR. The morning's story was spare, but it got fleshed out by interviews this afternoon.
It seems that the movie was on a shoestring budget, and all the crew were working long hours and under pressure. The set was a ranch that likely had the firearms there, so the chain of possession was not followed properly in terms of the "armorer" handling the weapons. I use "armorer" in quotes because the crew interviews of long hours over worked etc.
The bottom line is they probably did not follow the standard protocol and really did not have a trained armorer. The gun had live ammo because guns on a ranch would have.
Ironically the deceased and many of the people in the production had stood in solidarity in a photo op with International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) when they were about to strike about conditions and pay.
"The assistant director of the western film “Rust” grabbed a prop pistol from a gray cart and handed it to the movie’s star, Alec Baldwin, shouting “cold gun!” — which was supposed to indicate that it did not contain any live rounds, and was safe to handle around the crew huddled by the camera."

Does that sound like an armorer to you?
Fucking management got somebody killed.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/10/22/us/alec-baldwin-shooting-movie-set

Still don't understand from that exactly what happened - why would there be a loaded gun lying around of the same "vintage" and type as the intended prop gun? It was a period movie, no?
I assume the full story will come out, though, and crap management and doing things on the cheap does seem to be the most likely culprit. A tragedy for at least three people. And people still moan about "health and safety" rules.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

Alec Baldwin’s Movie Set Was Plagued by Gun Misfires Before Halyna Hutchins’ Tragic Death

There were at least two prior incidents of a gun being misfired on the set of the film ‘Rust’ before cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed in a shooting accident on set.

www.thedailybeast.com

"There were at least two prior incidents of a gun being misfired on the set of the upcoming Western film Rust in the days leading up to Alec Baldwin discharging a prop gun on Thursday that killed the film’s cinematographer and injured the director, The Daily Beast has learned.

According to a search warrant filed Friday, an assistant director handed Baldwin the gun and informed the actor the prop was safe to use. In reality, the firearm held live rounds, though the assistant director also did not know."
...................
"The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Baldwin, who was both an actor and producer on the film, fired the prop gun that reportedly had a live round among the blanks. "
..........

"But according to a knowledgeable production source, Hutchins’ death was avoidable, as they told The Daily Beast that within the past week there had been at least two previous incidents of firearms being misfired on set. The Los Angeles Times reported there was an additional misfiring the previous week.

“They had two negligent discharges on the same set, on the same day and still had jobs,” the source told The Daily Beast, clarifying same-day misfirings occurred on Saturday. “They had struck out twice and were given a third opportunity.”"
...............................
"Instead of hiring seasoned, union professionals because of the higher costs, the armorers were young, inexperienced, and non-union members who did not take their job as seriously as they should, the source said."
..............................
"And despite Baldwin having recently gone through a firearm-safety training session, the source said safety protocols were all but ignored by both Baldwin and the responsible production members. "


Hopefully they continue the investigation to get to the bottom of this story, It's obvious to me that someone loaded at least a single live round into the gun.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

It's Alec, you bumbling twatwaffle. I hope an "Alex Baldwin" sees this and kicks his ass for slander.

Fixed it the first chance i had.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Fixed it the first chance i had.

Also in your defense, X and C are right next to each other on a standard English keyboard layout.
Not an unreasonable typo.

I have a hard time believing this was a purposeful mis-spelling as opposed to say... Using "it" in lieu of proper pronouns.

 

[Hans Gruber]

A prop gun is a gun that has no trigger or ability to fire a real round. A gun is always used for live action scenes with blanks or dummy rounds. They use real guns. This is the 1st time a real round has found it's way into the chamber of a gun on a Hollywood set. The main question. If this was a rehearsal, why was Alec Baldwin firing the gun with blanks? They know the round was real because the bullet went through the cinemaphotographer and hit the director directly behind her.

 

[cytg111]

At the end of the day, someone put a gun in his hand and he didnt check it.
I know I know. But he really shoulda.

 

[skyking]

Still don't understand from that exactly what happened - why would there be a loaded gun lying around of the same "vintage" and type as the intended prop gun? It was a period movie, no?
I assume the full story will come out, though, and crap management and doing things on the cheap does seem to be the most likely culprit. A tragedy for at least three people. And people still moan about "health and safety" rules.

It was not a prop gun. The actor was directed to fire a round at the camera, and it was a real gun with a real live round. There is nothing else to understand.
The assistant director did not insure that the gun was safe or contained a blank.
It was a real ranch with real guns, hence the real live rounds being available.

 

[igor_kavinski]

One story said that Halyna was shot in the chest while another says stomach. It's been over a day now and the reporting on this incident has been awful. Details coming in bits and pieces still. They say the prop master responsible for the gun was the non-union one.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Also in your defense, X and C are right next to each other on a standard English keyboard layout.
Not an unreasonable typo.

I have a hard time believing this was a purposeful mis-spelling as opposed to say... Using "it" in lieu of proper pronouns.

Fair point. He's still a twatwaffle tho.

 

[igor_kavinski]

How can a prop gun kill? Utah expert says only after multiple safety failures

Actor Alec Baldwin fatally shoots crew member on movie set. Utah firearms expert Clark Aposhian says if proper protocols had been followed, it never would have happened.

www.deseret.com

“When I’m a weapons handler on these projects, I’m the only one who handles the guns,” Aposhian said. “I’m checking the weapon and ammunition before I hand the weapon to an actor and, as soon as the shot is done, I take the weapon back and check it again and it never leaves my possession until the next scene.”

Aposhian said weapon handlers on Hollywood sets typically have the power to shut down film shoots for any breach of safety protocols, an issue he said is rare but does occur, including on movies he’s worked on.

“For a scene in one project I worked on, the director wanted the actor, who was Danny Trejo, to pick up some shells from the ground,” Aposhian said. “They make ammunition specifically for this, that looks right and has a cartridge loaded with a bullet, but no powder. We didn’t have any on hand, so a production person went out to his car and came back with a handful of live rounds.

“I immediately shut down the set and insisted that the staffer be asked to leave before restarting. I told them either he had to go or I would ... it’s that serious.”

Clear breach of security protocols. The AD should never have picked up the gun.

 

[Jaskalas]

Still don't understand from that exactly what happened - why would there be a loaded gun lying around...

This is America. Nuff said.

Our Second Amendment claims yet another life. As it claims many lives each and every single day.

 

[HomerJS]

Again, being firearms ignorant why can't all prop guns be made to house a unique caliber bullet where only blanks would fit? This way you can't have live/blank mixups.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Again, being firearms ignorant why can't all prop guns be made to house a unique caliber bullet where only blanks would fit? This way you can't have live/blank mixups.

No reason, aside from being more expensive to obtain for movies/whatever instance one might need a blank for. I think it'd be worthwhile though.

 

[skyking]

Again, being firearms ignorant why can't all prop guns be made to house a unique caliber bullet where only blanks would fit? This way you can't have live/blank mixups.

Shoestring budget, so money drives the safety equation. Want a realistic gun? use a real gun, duh. What could go wrong.

 

[HomerJS]

Shoestring budget, so money drives the safety equation. Want a realistic gun? use a real gun, duh. What could go wrong.

Are prop only guns even made. The kind that would only fire with a blank?

Geez just thought. Finish watching squid game. Could have been an easy fatality. There were at least 50 gun shots to the head at close range.

 

[ondma]

Plenty of blame to go around I think. Obviously, the main fault lies with the "armorer" who allowed a live round into a "prop" gun, and for perhaps choosing the wrong type of gun. (I think there are "prop" guns that are disabled from firing a live round.) From what I have read though, even with a known prop gun, it is never supposed to be pointed directly at an individual, but camera angles arranged to make it look like it is. So unfortunately, and although I genuinely feel bad for him, I dont think Baldwin is totally free from responsibility.

 

[pmv]

At the end of the day, someone put a gun in his hand and he didnt check it.
I know I know. But he really shoulda.

Is it normal practice for an actor to check something like that? Doesn't sound as if it is, it's supposed to be the job of someone with expertise in exactly that.

I mean if one were retrospectively inventing new industry practices or H&S rules that might have prevented this there are any number of them one could come up with (e.g. anyone on set when firearms are being used, who isn't actually on-camera, to wear body armor). But it sounds as if there were already rules in place that were not followed.

 

[manly]

Are prop only guns even made. The kind that would only fire with a blank?

Geez just thought. Finish watching squid game. Could have been an easy fatality. There were at least 50 gun shots to the head at close range.

The CNN article I've linked explains a lot. Mostly, "prop guns" on Hollywood sets are real guns that fire blanks. This is done for realism, and that's why accidents happen over the years. Prop gun doesn't mean a toy made to appear real, because then they'd have to use CGI for all scenes involving firing of the weapons.

I think you're right that they need firearms experts to come up with real safety standards that can prevent these kinds of accidents. Using real guns and trusting that your protocols are safe just isn't foolproof enough.

 

[cytg111]

Is it normal practice for an actor to check something like that? Doesn't sound as if it is, it's supposed to be the job of someone with expertise in exactly that.

Probably not. Still, its a fully functional gun. In his hands. Imo he should have checked it.
If he put the prop down on a table, went to the little boys room, came back picks up the prop again... He checks it again.

 

[skyking]

you assume training not in evidence. His job is to act.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

A prop gun is a gun that has no trigger or ability to fire a real round. A gun is always used for live action scenes with blanks or dummy rounds. They use real guns. This is the 1st time a real round has found it's way into the chamber of a gun on a Hollywood set. The main question. If this was a rehearsal, why was Alec Baldwin firing the gun with blanks? They know the round was real because the bullet went through the cinemaphotographer and hit the director directly behind her.

Not correct. A "prop gun" can be anything from a rubber or polypropylene facsimile to a starter type pistol to an actual firearm. They are all referred to as "prop guns" in the trade.