Alec Baldwin Says The Gun Was Safe From Fatal Shots Court Notes.
Written byTimes Magazine
Key Sentence:
- As court records show, the gun that actor Alec Baldwin fired on the set, killing a woman, was given to him by a director who told him it was safe.
Unaware that the props contained ammunition, the assistant director, Dave Halls, pointed out that they were shouted "cold guns!" has been released, it says on the tape. Cinematographer Halina Hutchins was shot dead in the chest in an incident on the set of the film Rust on Thursday.
The director behind him, Joel Souza, was injured.
The 48-year-old received emergency medical treatment for a shoulder injury and was later discharged from the hospital. Further details of the police investigation came to light on Friday when a search warrant was issued in court in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He found that Baldwin's bloody clothes were taken along with the gun as evidence.
Police questioned the 63-year-old actor, but no one was held responsible for the incident. Earlier on Friday, Baldwin - the film's star and producer - said he was "working fully with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office."
"My heart breaks for her husband, son, and everyone who knows and loves Halina," she wrote on Twitter. "There are no words of express my shock and sadness at the tragic incident that took the lives of Halina Hutchins, my wife, mother, and colleague who I greatly admire."
Hutchins, 42, hailed from Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle. He studied journalism in Kyiv and film in Los Angeles and was named a "New Star" by American Cinematographers in 2019. He was the cameraman for the 2020 action film Archenemy, directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer.
According to the Los Angeles Times, about half a dozen Rust's camera crew members left hours before the tragedy after protesting conditions at the Bonanza Creek Ranch site near Santa Fe. Union members reportedly complained about hotel rooms in Santa Fe, but once western filming began, they had to drive 80 miles (80 km) from Albuquerque every morning.
The has since received documents showing which crew members were enlisted on set for that day. He appointed a chief gunsmith, a crew member responsible for inspecting firearms. According to the LA Times, Hannah Gutierrez Reed is twenty and recently worked in a role for the first time.
Variety reported that the gun that Baldwin fired contained "one live round," according to an email sent by the International Alliance of Theater Workers to its members. In Rust, Baldwin plays a bandit whose grandson is sentenced to death for involuntary manslaughter.
Incidents like that on-site are sporadic.
Real firearms are often used in the shooting and are loaded with blanks - bullets that produce lightning and thunder without throwing projectiles. In 1993, Brandon Lee, the 28-year-old son of the late martial arts star Bruce Lee, died on set after being accidentally shot with a gun while filming a death scene for The Crow.
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