Alec Baldwin accidentally shoots and kills cinematographer with prop gun

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Alec Baldwin allegedly repeatedly asked ‘why was I handed a hot gun?’ after he accidentally shot and killed a female cinematographer and wounded a director yesterday on the set of his new film Rust. 

Halyna Hutchins, 42, died shortly after being shot by Baldwin around 1.50pm Thursday at Bonanza Creek Ranch, near the city of Santa Fe in New Mexico. Joel Souza, 48, the film’s director, was also hurt and spent several hours in hospital, but was released later the same evening.

Police have disclosed few details about the shooting, saying only that a ‘projectile’ was fired by a ‘prop gun’ and they are investigating. A spokesman for the movie’s production company later said that accident involved ‘the misfire of a prop gun loaded with blanks’.

A witness told Hollywood gossip site Showbiz 411 that Baldwin immediately began asking why he was handed a ‘hot gun’ – which typically means a gun loaded with real ammunition – after the shooting. 

Though fatal accidents with blank ammunition are extremely rare, they do happen. 

Brandon Lee, the 28-year-old son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was shot and killed on the set of 1993 movie The Crow when part of a dummy round lodged in the barrel of a gun being used on set, before the blast from a second dummy round fired it into his stomach, causing fatal injuries.

Rhys Muldoon, an Australia actor who has worked extensively in film and TV, also suggested that a blank misfiring close to the camera could have caused Thursday’s accident – telling the BBC that material from the blank round could have struck Hutchins before causing part of the camera to hit Souza.

Mike Tristan, 60, a Hollywood armorer with 30 years’ experience who spoke to the Dailymail.com, said ultimate responsibility for gun safety on movie set rests with the armorer.  

‘There should have been blanks in the gun, the on-set armorer’s job is to check that before handing the weapon over,’ Tristan said.

‘They then make sure that the actor stands on a mark and never points the gun at the crew or cast… the editing makes it seem like they were pointing at their co-actor.

‘That’s why everyone in the industry is very confused. 

‘How this happened is a total mystery at the moment.’

Tristan added that he has worked with Baldwin before, on the set of 1998 film Thick as Thieves, calling him ‘very safe’ and a ‘total professional’. 

‘I was surprised to hear it was him,’ he added. 

Director James Cullen Bressack said afterwards he would never use blanks on his film sets again.

‘I will never use anything but airsoft and rubber guns on my movies ever again. This should never have happened. Halyna, you were a gem. 

‘This is so f****d up,’ he said. 

Actress Frances Fischer, who is part of the Rust crew, also confirmed that blanks were being used for the stunt.   

Baldwin was taken for questioning by sheriff’s deputies after the fatal shooting, but was not arrested and has not been charged.

The sheriff’s department says its investigation is ongoing. 

He was pictured outside the sheriff’s office doubled over with grief, and weeping while speaking on the phone. He refused to speak with a reporter from the New Mexican who was at the scene. 

Wife Hilaria had uploaded a video showing her playing with two of the couple’s six children at 4am on Wednesday. The couple live in New York.

Filming of the movie – about a boy who is wrongly accused of murder, and which Baldwin is co-producing – has been indefinitely suspended while cast and crew recover. Counseling services are being offered, producers said. 

Hutchins was Ukrainian-born and grew up in the USSR before studying journalism and working on ‘British documentary productions in Europe’, according to her personal website.

She subsequently moved to Los Angeles where she changed career to become a cinematographer, studying a two-year fine arts Masters at the AFI Conservatory between 2013 and 2015.

Social media posts suggest she gave birth to a son around the same time – who appears to have been born either late 2012 or early 2013.

The boy appears to be her only child with husband Matthew Hutchins, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who worked as an associated with firm Kirkland & Ellis until 2017. It is unclear what his current job is.

Baldwin is a co-producer on the film, in which he plays infamous outlaw Harland Rust, whose 13-year-old grandson is convicted of an accidental murder. 

It was not immediately clear whether the prop gun that killed Hutchins was somehow loaded with real bullets, or if the gunpowder used in theatrical blank cartridges may have launched debris of some kind from the barrel. No further information has been offered on how Baldwin managed to strike two people, with the sheriff’s office continuing to investigate. 

Representatives for Baldwin, Souza, and Rust’s executive producer did not immediately respond to inquiries from DailyMail.com late on Thursday. 

Earlier on Thursday, Baldwin’s spokesperson issued a statement to People on the shooting, saying: ‘There was an accident today on the New Mexico set of involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks.’

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Rust Pictures LLC, which is producing the film, said: ‘The entire cast and crew has been absolutely devastated by today’s tragedy, and we send our deepest condolences to Halyna’s family and loved ones.

‘We have halted production on the film for an undetermined period of time and are fully cooperating with the Santa Fe Police Department’s investigation. We will be providing counseling services to everyone connected to the film as we work to process this awful event’

Hutchins’ devastated friends were too distraught to talk, but Ariel Vida, a production designer who worked with the director of photography on 2020 film Archenemy confirmed her death to DailyMail.com, tearfully adding: ‘I’m sorry, I can’t talk about this right now.’  

No criminal charges have been filed, but police said that a criminal investigation into the incident is currently active to determine the circumstances of Hutchins’ death. 

‘According to investigators, it appears that the scene being filmed involved the use of a prop firearm when it was discharged,’ sheriff’s spokesman Juan Rios said in a statement. ‘Detectives are investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.’ 

‘The incident remains an active investigation. As more information becomes available, updates will be provided,’ he added. 

Filming for Rust was set to continue through early November, according to a news release from the New Mexico Film Office, but production has now been halted on the film.

The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to a synopsis. 

The teen goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather, played by Baldwin, after the boy is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher. 

Baldwin stars in the film alongside Travis Fimmel, Jensen Ackles and Frances Fisher. 

Earlier on Thursday, Baldwin posted an Instagram photo from the Bonanza Creek Ranch, showing him in full costume, with fake blood on his abdomen. The photo was captioned: ‘Back to in person at the office. Blimey…it’s exhausting.’

His wife Hilaria also shared a screen grab from a FaceTime conversation with Baldwin earlier in the day, where he appears to be riding in a car on his way to the ranch.

The ranch has been used in dozens of films, including the recent Tom Hanks Western News of the World.

After the fatal shooting at the movie ranch, a 2017 tweet of Baldwin’s resurfaced, in which he responded to video of a police shooting in California by writing: ‘I wonder how it must feel to wrongfully kill someone…’ 

That police shooting was later ruled justified. 

Following Thursday’s tragedy, friends took to Hutchins’ Instagram page to leave tributes underneath a video filmed two days ago that showed her riding a horse on her day off.

James Cullen wrote: ‘I will miss you my friend. This is devastating.’

Another friend Jack Caswell added: ‘I feel like I’ve had the wind knocked out of me. You will be so missed’ while Tina Presley Borek said: ‘Heartbroken.’ 

‘I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set,’ said Archenemy director Adam Egypt Mortimer on Twitter. ‘She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film.’ 

The International Cinematographers Guild also lamented Hutchins’ untimely death in a statement.

‘The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event,’ guild president John Lindley and executive director Rebecca Rhine said.

The tragic shooting death is reminiscent of the 1993 death of Bruce Lee’s son Brandon Lee on the set of The Crow, where a bullet that was lodged in the barrel of a prop gun was propelled out by a blank round, killing him.

‘Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on Rust,’ tweeted Brandon Lee’s sister Shannon from a tribute account dedicated to her brother. ‘No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period.’

Hutchins, who lived in Venice Beach, California, was considered one of Hollywood’s rising stars – named in a list of cinematographers to watch in 2019 by American Cinematographer.

The daughter of a soldier, Hutchins grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle before going to college in Ukrainian capital Kiev.

She later moved first to the U.K. to work on documentary filmmaking before traveling to LA to study for a master’s degree in cinematography and switching to movies.

Her credits include horror film Darlin and, shortly before starting work on Rust, she had completed filming on Blindfire – a crime drama starring Brian Geraghty and Sharon Leal.

The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office says it responded to the movie set at around 1.50pm after a 911 caller indicated someone had been shot in the arm.

‘According to investigators, it appears that the scene being filmed involved the use of a prop firearm when it was discharged,’ the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

‘Detectives are investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged,’ the statement added. 

Police said that a 42-year-old female, later identified as Hutchins, was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. 

The director, Souza, was rushed by ambulance to Cristus St. Vincent’s Hospital where he is being treated for injuries, and is expected to survive. 

‘There was an accident today on the New Mexico set of Rust involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks,’ read a statement from Rust Movie Productions LLC. 

‘Two crew members have been taken to the hospital and are receiving care. Production has been halted for the time being. The safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority,’ the statement concluded. 

Albuquerque’s KOB 4 news anchor Tessa Mentus tweeted a photo from her network’s chopper, showing a church set blocked off.

‘@santafesheriff  investigating incident at #Rust movie set on Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe. Pic from #Chopper4 shows an old church set blocked off, and set security confirms its lockdown,’ Mentus tweeted.

Another KOB 4 reporter, Giuli Frendak, shared a photo of a security gate, adding, ‘Security guard at the entrance to the set of Rust’, a western movie in production in #SantaFe, told us the set is on lockdown right now. Couldn’t share anything else. Waiting for more details from Santa Fe Sheriff on today’s incident near Bonanza Creek.’

The fate of Rust is now up in the air following the tragic shooting. Baldwin is a co-producer on the film and plays infamous outlaw named Rust, who goes on the run with his grandson. 

Ackles plays a U.S. Marshal, and Fimmel plays a bounty hunter who are on the pair’s tail as Rust tries to break his grandson out of prison. 

An unexpected bond forms between the outlaw and his estranged grandson as they go on the run.

CAA Media Finance and Highland Film Group were launching sales on the film at last year’s Cannes virtual film market, with Baldwin producing through his El Dorado Pictures banner alongside Anjul Nigam and executive producer Matthew Helderman.

Baldwin and Nigam produced Souza’s previous feature, 2019’s Crown Vic. 

Anna Granucci is also producing with Elizabeth L. Barbatelli as an executive producer.

New Mexico is a busy film location, and the Bonanza Creek Ranch has previously hosted star-studded productions including Hostiles, Cowboys & Aliens, 3:10 to Yuma, Appaloosa and Longmire.

It is not the first time that a prop gun has killed someone during the filming of a movie. 

In 1993, Brandon Lee, 28, son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee, died after being hit by a .44-caliber slug while filming a death scene for the movie The Crow. 

The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine. 

In that case, an investigation determined that a bullet became lodged in the barrel of the gun when the crew failed to properly deactivate the primer in a dummy cartridge, which is supposed to look like a real bullet but be inert. 

Later, the gunpower in a blank cartridge, which creates the sound and muzzle flash of gunfire for film, propelled the stuck bullet out of the gun’s barrel, striking Lee. 

In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun blank while pretending to play Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum on the set of the television series Cover Up. 

In that case, the paper wadding used to secure the gunpowder in the blank cartridge was expelled with enough force to shatter his skull near the temple, sending fragments into Hexum’s brain and causing massive hemorrhaging.