Baldwin shoot photographer by gun

‘Rust’ shooting may have been sabotage, say armorer’s lawyers

November 4, 2021 by Raba Noor

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LOS ANGELES: Lawyers representing the woman who loaded Alec Baldwin’s gun said an act of “sabotage” by disgruntled crew members may have caused the tragic shooting on the set of “Rust.”

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was the armorer in charge of weapons on the Western movie set in New Mexico, where Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer last month after being told his firearm was safe.

Her lawyers told the “Today” program, on the US network NBC, that Gutierrez-Reed had loaded the gun with ammunition from a box of dummy, or inert, rounds and had “no idea” where the live round that killed Halyna Hutchins came from.

“We’re assuming somebody put the live round in that box — which if you think about that, the person who put the live round in the box of dummy rounds had to have the purpose of sabotaging this set,” said Jason Bowles.

“There’s no other reason you would do that. That you would mix that live round in with the dummy rounds.”

Prosecutors have refused to rule out criminal charges over Hutchins’ death.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza has said it appeared “there was some complacency on this set.”

There have been multiple reports that “Rust” camera crew resigned the day before the shooting, in part due to significant safety concerns surrounding firearms and explosives on set.

Both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed are cooperating with the ongoing investigation.

Pressed on why somebody would deliberately sabotage the production by disguising a lethal round as safe ammunition, Bowles pointed to “unhappy” crew members who had walked out hours before the shooting.

“We have people who had left the set, who had walked out because they were disgruntled,” said Bowles, pointing to on-set complaints over long working hours and hotel accommodation for crew.

“We have a timeframe between 11:00 and 1:00 approximately that day in which the firearms at times were unattended. So there was opportunity to tamper with a scene.”

Asked why Gutierrez-Reed had left the firearms unattended, Bowles said she had been asked by producers to shoulder additional duties as a “key props assistant,” and was attending to those at the time of the shooting.

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Baldwin was practicing drawing gun when he fired fatal shot: director

October 25, 2021 by Raba Noor

LOS ANGELES, Alec Baldwin was practicing drawing his gun from his holster and pointing it at the camera when he fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie “Rust,” the director said in a search-warrant affidavit.

The 63-year-old Baldwin was “sitting in a pew in a church building setting, and he was practicing a cross draw,” director Joel Souza said, “pointing the revolver towards the camera lens.”

Souza told investigators in the affidavit released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office that he was looking over Hutchins’ shoulder “when he heard what sounded like a whip and then loud pop.”

The director said he remembered the 42-year-old Hutchins “complaining about her stomach and grabbing her midsection.”

“Halyna began to stumble backwards and she was assisted to the ground,” the affidavit, seen by AFP, said. “Joel explained that he was bleeding from his shoulder and he could see blood on Halyna.”

Hutchins was struck in the chest when Baldwin fired the prop gun he had been told was safe on the set of the low-budget western in New Mexico on October 21. She was declared dead in hospital hours later.

Souza, 48, was treated by doctors and sent home.

No one has been charged and no arrests have been made.

Baldwin has been interviewed by detectives in Santa Fe and has said he is cooperating fully with the probe.

Cameraman Reid Russell also gave his version of events in the affidavit.

Russell, who was standing next to Souza and Hutchins, said Baldwin was “trying to explain how he was going to draw out the firearm and where his arm would be at when the firearm was pulled from the holster.”

“Reid was not sure why the firearm was discharged and just remembered the loud bang,” the affidavit said. “He remembered Joel having blood on his person, and Halyna speaking and saying she couldn’t feel her legs.”

– ‘Cold Gun’ –

The camera operator said the shooting was not caught on film as the cast and crew were still preparing for the scene.

The incident happened after a lunch break, Souza said in the affidavit, and the director wasn’t sure if the gun had been checked again for safety after the break.

“Souza stated there should never be live rounds whatsoever, near or around the scene,” the affidavit said, but as “far as he knows, no one gets checked for live ammunition on their person prior and after the scenes are being filmed.”

“According to (Souza), it was his belief the gun being used in the rehearsal was safe and used the term ‘cold gun’ when explaining the firearm safety announcements,” the affidavit said.

“(Souza) said he remembered the phrase ‘Cold Gun’ being said, while preparing for the scene.”

Attention has focused on the film’s assistant director, Dave Halls, who handed the weapon to the actor, and on the armorer, 24-year-old Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

According to the affidavit, Halls handed one of three prop guns to Baldwin that had been set up on a cart by Gutierrez-Reed.

“(Halls) yelled ‘Cold Gun,’ indicating the prop gun did not have any live rounds,” it said. “(Halls) did not know live rounds were in the prop-gun.”

Souza also told investigators the day had gotten off to a late start because of a dispute with a camera crew about pay and housing.

The director said everyone was “getting along,” however, and “there were no altercations that took place to his knowledge.”

The new details emerged as Hutchins’ shocked friends and colleagues gathered to pay tribute to her Sunday at a vigil where their anguish and anger were on display.

Calls were growing for a ban on live firearms on movie sets, with a petition gathering more than 20,000 signatures and a California lawmaker announcing he would push a bill banning live ammunition on sets in the state.

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Calls to ban guns on movie sets grow after Baldwin shooting

October 24, 2021 by Raba Noor

LOS ANGELES, Calls were multiplying in Hollywood Sunday to ban the use of firearms on movie sets, three days after actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in a shocking on-set tragedy.

A memorial service will be held later Sunday for 42-year-old Hutchins, who was struck in the chest when Baldwin fired a prop gun during the filming of the low-budget Western “Rust”. She died shortly after the incident Thursday in New Mexico.

Director Joel Souza, 48, who was crouching behind her as they lined up a shot, was wounded and hospitalized, then released.

Police are still investigating the shooting, which sparked intense speculation on social media about how such an accident could have occurred despite detailed and long-established gun safety protocols for film sets.

A petition on the website change.org calling for a ban on live firearms on film sets and better working conditions for crews had gathered more than 15,000 signatures by Sunday.

“There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century,” says the text of the petition launched by Bandar Albuliwi, a screenwriter and director.

Dave Cortese, a Democrat elected to the California Senate, put out a statement on Saturday saying, “There is an urgent need to address alarming work abuses and safety violations occurring on the set of theatrical productions, including unnecessary high-risk conditions such as the use of live firearms.”

He said he intends to push a bill banning live ammunition on movie sets in California.

The hit Los Angeles police drama “The Rookie” decided the day after the shooting to ban all live ammunition from its set, effective immediately, according to industry publication The Hollywood Reporter.

Baldwin, who has spoken of his heartbreak after the killing, is cooperating with the police investigation.

The probe has focused on the specialist in charge of the weapon and the assistant director who handed it to Baldwin, according to an affidavit seen by AFP.

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Movie gunsmith urges ‘absolute caution’ after Baldwin shooting

October 23, 2021 by Raba Noor

France, A French weapons expert, who has supplied guns to Keanu Reeves and taught Robert de Niro how to shoot, on Friday said he was shaken by the tragic accident on Alec Baldwin’s movie.

In a highly secure storeroom in Seine-Saint-Denis, north of Paris, Christophe Maratier displays hundreds of weapons — from Kalashnikovs to First World War machine guns to the latest automatic guns.

As a gunsmith to the stars, working on many French and international productions, it is a business that demands constant, absolute caution.

“It’s an anxiety-provoking job, we put all our energy into safety to avoid accidents,” he told AFP.

Maratier says he was shocked and grieved by the tragic incident in New Mexico on Wednesday, in which a cinematographer died after Baldwin discharged a prop firearm.

The director was also injured in the apparent accident on the set of “Rust” — where Baldwin is playing the lead in a 19th century Western about an accidental killing.

Maratier is currently working with Keanu Reeves on the latest instalment of his John Wick series, which is filming in Paris.

In France, he said, only modified weapons which cannot fire projectiles are permitted on sets.

But directors “still need real guns that make nice flames,” he added.

So it is common to use guns that fire blanks — a reserve of explosive powder without any projectile.

Just to be sure, actors are also instructed never to fire towards anyone or fire any close-range shots, he said.

Maratier is also charged with instructing the actors on how to carry guns safely — something he did for De Niro on 1990s thriller “Ronin”.

“He was very interested to learn — which was surprising,” he said.

Times are changing, with calls for greater use of fake guns and special effects to recreate shots.

The gunsmith’s fear is an accidental error: the piece of stone that found itself lodged in the weapon when an extra has left it on the ground, or the projectile placed by mistake in the barrel and fired out by the blank.

They must also worry about blinding, burning or deafening people (shots can reach 150 decibels).

Despite all these risks, film-makers still see blanks as a necessity “to give the illusion of a real shot”, said Maratier.

“We are creating a spectacle,” he said, adding that the blanks are often designed to give much more of an explosion than real guns.

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