Alec Baldwin fired prop gun, killing 1 on movie set, Oct 2021 #3

[Luna20]

I think it’s going to come down to the armorer taking her eyes off the gun, the producers for hiring people with safety issues and not maintaining order on the set.

While AB may not legally be expected to check for live ammo he pointed the gun knowing the person(s) handling the gun had reported safety issues. That would have been in the forefront of my mind.

 

[Mo Thuairim]

The day Alec Baldwin shot Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza

This report is is based on interviews with 14 “Rust” crew members, including nine who were at Bonanza Creek Ranch the day Hutchins was shot, records from Santa Fe County, Santa Fe film permits and emails, text messages and internal communications from the “Rust” production. It is the most comprehensive account to date of a day that ended in tragedy, and raised concerns about the decisions made regarding safety on the set. Already, there have been calls for new laws and regulations regarding the handling of firearms on sets.

From your link:

That Thursday, the crew began preparing for the scene before Baldwin had returned from his lunch break. Gutierrez Reed entered the church with the firearms, performing a safety check with the Colt .45 in front of Halls. He thought he saw three rounds inside the gun, but he did not check them before taking the weapon in his hand.

He told investigators that “he should have checked all of them, but didn’t, and couldn’t recall if she spun the drum,” according to the affidavit.

The armorer left the church.

No stand-in performers were on site, so the first assistant director ran through Baldwin’s blocking himself, pulling the gun three times. Russell, a B-Cam operator, watched the action unfold from a monitor on his dolly. Hutchins stood over his shoulder, flanked by Souza.

(...)

During the scene, Baldwin’s character was supposed to fast-draw his weapon and shoot at a rival. Halls had not pulled the gun’s trigger during the run-throughs he performed.

But when Baldwin entered the church to do a quick rehearsal, he apparently did.

The bullet barely missed Russell before hitting the DP and the director. The trio was about two feet from the muzzle of the weapon.

(...)

It's a long, very detailed article. Lots more at link

The day Alec Baldwin shot Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza

 

[Deleted member 39678]

If the rounds had been checked as they went into the gun, Halls would have seen that at least one lacked the small hole or indent that visually differentiates dummies from bullets. He would have also noticed that it didn’t make the signature rattling that proves there’s only a BB — and no gunpowder — in the dummy round.

The day Alec Baldwin shot Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza

 

[Marysmith]

I do respect the fact that Halls is saying to investigators that he made a mistake. No matter his past and what everyone thinks and says about him that is something. A lot of people would never admit to any wrongdoing in this situation and look to just blame others the whole time.

 

[Gardenista]

From your link:

That Thursday, the crew began preparing for the scene before Baldwin had returned from his lunch break. Gutierrez Reed entered the church with the firearms, performing a safety check with the Colt .45 in front of Halls. He thought he saw three rounds inside the gun, but he did not check them before taking the weapon in his hand.

He told investigators that “he should have checked all of them, but didn’t, and couldn’t recall if she spun the drum,” according to the affidavit.

The armorer left the church.

No stand-in performers were on site, so the first assistant director ran through Baldwin’s blocking himself, pulling the gun three times. Russell, a B-Cam operator, watched the action unfold from a monitor on his dolly. Hutchins stood over his shoulder, flanked by Souza.

(...)

During the scene, Baldwin’s character was supposed to fast-draw his weapon and shoot at a rival. Halls had not pulled the gun’s trigger during the run-throughs he performed.

But when Baldwin entered the church to do a quick rehearsal, he apparently did.

The bullet barely missed Russell before hitting the DP and the director. The trio was about two feet from the muzzle of the weapon.

(...)

It's a long, very detailed article. Lots more at link

The day Alec Baldwin shot Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza

I don't understand what they mean by Hall "pulling the gun three times."

 

[Mo Thuairim]

I don't understand what they mean by Hall "pulling the gun three times."

I think demonstrating how the actor would draw the weapon? He was acting as a stand-in for AB before he got to scene so I guess showing the crew what the move would look like.

They were just running through blocking the scene for the camera so the AD was repeatedly drawing the weapon.

 

[10ofRods]

From your link:

That Thursday, the crew began preparing for the scene before Baldwin had returned from his lunch break. Gutierrez Reed entered the church with the firearms, performing a safety check with the Colt .45 in front of Halls. He thought he saw three rounds inside the gun, but he did not check them before taking the weapon in his hand.

He told investigators that “he should have checked all of them, but didn’t, and couldn’t recall if she spun the drum,” according to the affidavit.

The armorer left the church.

No stand-in performers were on site, so the first assistant director ran through Baldwin’s blocking himself, pulling the gun three times. Russell, a B-Cam operator, watched the action unfold from a monitor on his dolly. Hutchins stood over his shoulder, flanked by Souza.

(...)

During the scene, Baldwin’s character was supposed to fast-draw his weapon and shoot at a rival. Halls had not pulled the gun’s trigger during the run-throughs he performed.

But when Baldwin entered the church to do a quick rehearsal, he apparently did.

The bullet barely missed Russell before hitting the DP and the director. The trio was about two feet from the muzzle of the weapon.

(...)

It's a long, very detailed article. Lots more at link

The day Alec Baldwin shot Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza

If it was a replica, then the cylinder could have been spun, but if it was a vintage Colt, as first reported, the cylinder's bullets cannot be seen by opening and spinning the cylinder. The checker has to move the cylinder and open a gate on the right hand side of the gun to see if a road is in there.

If there were just rehearsing, then no one's finger should have been on the trigger, because getting shot with a blank (with BBs?) could easily take out an eye at that range.

I do wonder what the plan was. While filming (later, after rehearsal) was Baldwin supposed to shoot BB's at the expensive camera and the person behind it? Or were they set up to protect the camera and the DP? I don't see any plexiglass in the scene. If the BB had been fired past the camera (camera set higher so it couldn't be shot), with the right lens it would have still look as if it was going toward the camera. But...surely they would have cleared people away from the path of even a blank round?

 

[10ofRods]

I recommend going back and taking a peek at what @gitana1 wrote about this. His pointing a gun where he did was not a huge misstep. There are about 6 or 7 really good posts of hers that I recommend anyone who missed the first time around, go back and read.

His pulling a trigger during rehearsal would be odd - since no point in having the bang of a blank during rehearsal - especially with a child on set (the young actor playing the grandson was a couple of feet from Baldwin).

Actors are never supposed to aim directly at people, so I do believe it was a misstep - but Baldwin had every reason to believe it was a cold gun (no blanks OR bullets). Guns with blanks are still "hot guns" ever since Brandon Lee died.

 

[Luna20]

From your link:

That Thursday, the crew began preparing for the scene before Baldwin had returned from his lunch break. Gutierrez Reed entered the church with the firearms, performing a safety check with the Colt .45 in front of Halls. He thought he saw three rounds inside the gun, but he did not check them before taking the weapon in his hand.

He told investigators that “he should have checked all of them, but didn’t, and couldn’t recall if she spun the drum,” according to the affidavit.

The armorer left the church.

No stand-in performers were on site, so the first assistant director ran through Baldwin’s blocking himself, pulling the gun three times. Russell, a B-Cam operator, watched the action unfold from a monitor on his dolly. Hutchins stood over his shoulder, flanked by Souza.

(...)

During the scene, Baldwin’s character was supposed to fast-draw his weapon and shoot at a rival. Halls had not pulled the gun’s trigger during the run-throughs he performed.

But when Baldwin entered the church to do a quick rehearsal, he apparently did.

The bullet barely missed Russell before hitting the DP and the director. The trio was about two feet from the muzzle of the weapon.

(...)

It's a long, very detailed article. Lots more at link

The day Alec Baldwin shot Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza

I suggest that everyone read this article. It’s thorough with many details that have not been reported before such as Hutchins herself had to deal with the constraints placed on the crew. Things were very rushed, she personally forfeited a days rental and appears she tried to work around it.

“Luper discussed the hotel situation with Hutchins over dinner Oct. 15; she treated Luper and others to sushi. She said the issue had been resolved; Hutchins had forfeited a day’s rental of a technocrane, which enables photographers to get aerial shots, to expand the budget for lodging.


“I have to wake up early and commute to set, my job is very physically demanding and I am beyond exhausted by the time I wrap,” Huerta wrote in his email to Walters. “I’ve found myself nodding off or having to take micro naps on the roadside just to get home safe.”

His safety concerns also extended to the weapons on set.

“I also feel anxious on set, I’ve seen firsthand our [assistant director] rush to get shots and he skips over important protocols, Huerta wrote in his email. “ He often rushes to shoot, I’ve had more than a few occasions where I have been close to the weapons being fired with no regards to my hearing. Sometimes he rushes so quickly that props [department] hasn’t even had the chance to bring earplugs and he rolls and the actors fire anyway”

Huerta’s email was sent Wednesday at 9:15 p.m.

“If it wasn’t for the hotel, we would have stuck it out,” he told The Times.

 

[10ofRods]

Apologies for reposting this, but I would still like an opinion from someone who has had experience with this class of weapon:

----------------
One thing still puzzles me. In the affidavit for the search warrant, the director (Joel Souza) was interviewed:

Joel said he was looking over the shoulder of Halayna, [sic] when he heard what sounded like a whip and then loud pop.

It seems to me that the discharge of a .45 caliber round with a full powder load would make more noise than a "loud pop."

----------------

The only thing close in my personal experience was firing a M1911 in an indoor range in the military. Even with ear protection the sound was long way from "a whip and a loud pop." How do we explain this testimony, and the absence of others complaining that their ears were ringing? The person who made the 911 call did not seem to have any difficulty hearing.

We only ever fired my dad's Colt .45 revolver outside. I don't remember it being super loud, no one wore hearing protection. Not as loud, for example, as the shotgun we now have - or dad's old shotgun. But I was a kid, so maybe it didn't matter to me. Dad had a .22 revolver too, and I don't remember any difference in loudness. The cracking whip sound sounds about right to me (loud, startling, but I don't recall ever having my ears ring...)

My dad was partly deaf from other reasons (guns in WW2). So he wouldn't have noticed anything being too loud. I have pretty sensitive hearing, even now (get tested once in a while), but it never seemed loud except for the shotgun.

Today's world contains lots of people who spend a lot of time listening to very loud music, IMO. So they might not think a shot from a revolver was all THAT loud.

 

[Arkay]

Reallllllly starting to feel this way too! Could be somebody didn’t even have an actual intended victim. Maybe somebody just wanted to cause chaos on set, even a death. Anyone would do?

Who benefits from this scenario?

This was not done in a dark, deserted alleyway in the dead of night. People are going to lose their careers, their licenses, their freedom if found criminally liable, or a fortune if they're sued.

Unless you are saying there was a psychopath on set, IMO again this was a terrible confluence of events caused by haste, inexperience and irresponsibility.

 

[10ofRods]

I read her posts and disagree with some of what she said, because she sort of discounted industry standards, while basing her posts on those same standards. Same thing with Baldwin's impromptu roadside press conference where he said stricter standards are necessary to prevent "one in a trillion accidents" like this one.

The standard is clear, this is a direct quote from an article that @gitana1 herself posted and WAS NOT FOLLOWED, specifically the bolded: "The weapons master is required to be on set whenever a weapon is being used. The Actors’ Equity Association’s guidelines state that, “Before each use, make sure the gun has been test-fired off stage and then ask to test fire it yourself. Watch the prop master check the cylinders and barrel to be sure no foreign object or dummy bullet has become lodged inside.” Further, “All loading of firearms must be done by the property master, armorer or experienced persons working under their direct supervision.”

Also, the chain of custody was not followed. The assistant director (not the armorer or the prop master) picked the gun up off a cart and declared it cold and handed it to Baldwin.

Simple fact is, had Alec Baldwin followed the current industry standards this incident would not have happened.

Seems like there are several ways to blame people for this (Yes, the actor is supposed to check in the presence of the armourer; armourer appears to have been no where in sight at the time; AD takes over armourer's role but doesn't actually check the guns himself and apparently thinks using the real, functioning gun is better than using the plastic gun or the non-functional gun for a rehearsal - perhaps he doesn't know the difference; surely Alec knew the difference between a plastic gun but probably thought he was holding the gun that was non-functional - or else he ought not to have pulled the period, full stop - blanks are not fired at people these days; blocking and staging would have been different if anyone thought it was a hot gun - which includes a gun with blanks).

Someone brought live rounds onto the set. Hopefully they left DNA or fingerprints on the boxes or fanny packs or whatever. Several crew members have said to reporters that there was "plinking" and some crew members have described sleeping/living on set (so the set was also home to some of them, not good).

 

[Luna20]

I do respect the fact that Halls is saying to investigators that he made a mistake. No matter his past and what everyone thinks and says about him that is something. A lot of people would never admit to any wrongdoing in this situation and look to just blame others the whole time.

I agree, that’s commendable. He is taking responsibility for his part in all of it despite that no one else is. He must feel somewhat disappointed that he stands alone regarding accountability…so far.

 

[Mo Thuairim]

The unit production manager's comment about props and armour struck me as incredibly flippant. Anyway they clearly knew there was an issue with that dept. (BBM)

(...)

Other concerns plagued “Rust” from its inception. Crew members were not being paid, Luper said, and many described an overly rushed mentality on the set. Even production managers expressed concern about the capabilities of the set’s sole armorer, Gutierrez Reed.

She was responsible for all the guns on set and had worked as head armorer on only one film previously. Unit production manager Katherine “Row” Walters felt that “apparently props and armor require handholding,” according to a screenshot of an internal Oct. 8 Slack message.

The day Alec Baldwin shot Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza

 

[Deleted member 39678]

This link states that a .45 Colt produces 154.7 dB

Keep in mind that conversational speech is approximately 60-65 dB, and the threshold of pain is considered to be 140 dB.

According to Dr. William Clark, Ph.D. senior research scientist in charge of the NOISE LABORATORY at the Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis, the damage caused by one shot from a .357 magnum pistol, which can expose a shooter to 165 dB for 2msec, is equivalent to over 40 hours in a noisy workplace.

Gunfire Noise Level Reference Chart - EAR Customized Hearing Protection

 

[10ofRods]

Who benefits from this scenario?

This was not done in a dark, deserted alleyway in the dead of night. People are going to lose their careers, their licenses, their freedom if found criminally liable, or a fortune if they're sued.

Unless you are saying there was a psychopath on set, IMO again this was a terrible confluence of events caused by haste, inexperience and irresponsibility.

Yep. "Negligence" is probably the word that sums it up best. And negligent homicide is a charge that comes to mind. Problem will be determining where the negligence occurred and who is actually responsible. The young woman who was hired after a more experienced armourer said the job could be done as a part time job split between armourer and prop wrangler? The AD with a known history of careless who called it a "cold gun" when in fact he didn't know whether it was or wasn't? The actor who didn't ask to see a demonstration of empty chambers? The producer who hired the armourer and the AD and made the decision to skimp on staff? Who was the producer-in-charge that day? Was there one? There was a producer on set, but was he doing his job as producer? Why did so many people walk off out of safety concerns just that morning? What will they say? Is it true that this was the second time a gun at gone off when it ought to to have?

Lots to litigate. Sheriff said they had almost 100 people still to interview...

 

[10ofRods]

This link states that a .45 Colt produces 154.7 dB

Keep in mind that conversational speech is approximately 60-65 dB, and the threshold of pain is considered to be 140 dB.

According to Dr. William Clark, Ph.D. senior research scientist in charge of the NOISE LABORATORY at the Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis, the damage caused by one shot from a .357 magnum pistol, which can expose a shooter to 165 dB for 2msec, is equivalent to over 40 hours in a noisy workplace.

Gunfire Noise Level Reference Chart - EAR Customized Hearing Protection

Or, I suppose, 40 hours of listening to ver' loud music, as some do.

I have several friends with enough hearing loss to require hearing aids - all due to music listening, beginning in the days when guys would sit in between two huge speakers. I also have friends retired from stage jobs for musicians, due to the hearing damage even with safety gear. I was happy at the very last concert I went to that the band I love so much...being now geriatric...had turned it down quite a bit.

dB levels in some restaurants can be as high as 110 or even more. The food court where I work is routinely at 101-110...during lunch hour. Kids' cafeterias get that high or higher, as well. Restaurants are supposed to be at 90 or lower, but now that I have a dB meter on my watch, I find that's almost never the case - indoors. So nice that outdoor options now exist.

 

[Deleted member 39678]

2011 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 30: Criminal Offenses
Article 2: Homicide, 30-2-1 through 30-2-9
Section 30-2-3: Manslaughter.

Universal Citation: NM Stat § 30-2-3 (1996 through 1st Sess 50th Legis)
30-2-3. Manslaughter.

Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice.

A. Voluntary manslaughter consists of manslaughter committed upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion.

Whoever commits voluntary manslaughter is guilty of a third degree felony resulting in the death of a human being.

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.

2011 New Mexico Statutes :: Chapter 30: Criminal Offenses :: Article 2: Homicide, 30-2-1 through 30-2-9 :: Section 30-2-3: Manslaughter.

 

[Antimony]

Like most accidents or horrible occurrences like this one, It is a train of mistakes or missed opportunities that could have stopped the fatal action anywhere along the line. We know the ending of the train, LE will find the beginning of it. New laws won't help. They didn't follow simple rules this time and it cost a life.

 

[Antimony]

I have both a .45 Colt and a .357 Magnum. The .357 is much louder.