Alec Baldwin to be charged with involuntary manslaughter

[Harrysfrostbittentodger]

Prosecutors have announced they will file criminal charges against Hollywood star and producer Alec Baldwin following the death of Halyna Hutchins in 2021. The cinematographer died after a prop gun held by Baldwin was discharged during rehearsals for the western film Rust.

The film's armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for weapons on set, is also facing the same charge over the fatal shooting, while assistant director David Halls has signed a plea agreement for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.

Film industry person here (although not an armourer). There’s a safety protocol regarding weapons/prop weapons on set that it looks unlikely to have been followed on this occasion. The armourer and the first assistant director are meant to show the actor the empty barrel when the actor is handed the prop, and the actor is meant to acknowledge that he/she has seen that it’s not loaded. And that’s before you get into the fact there should be no live ammunition on set, no triggers should be pulled if a gun is pointing at someone, guns should be locked away, and all the other common sense rules you’d assume. Although I suspect Alec Baldwin has been charged in his capacity as a producer on the film, rather than as an actor. As a producer he had a responsibility for the health and safety of the crew, and as there is no denying he was on set that day he must have seen the rules were not being adhered to.

@AmazonianAvatar
"why on earth would there be live bullets on film set anyway?"

Isn't that the job of the armourer? I know she has been charged as well.
I also know she is (or seems) quite young to have such a responsibility.
Hopefully, the resultant case will establish all of the facts, and then we will know if Alec Baldwin was guilty or not.
(yes, I know he fired the gun, but a lot depends on the exact circumstances, what was said, how the acting was directed, etc)

@Andanotherone01
"Isn’t he the producer of the film? Ultimately the buck stops with him"

I don't think it works like that. There are often several producers on a film, and I think it is more of a technical thing.

I'll straight away say I know nothing about gun regulations on film sets but I read on a news report very soon after the incident that they were using live ammunition on set for part of the filming because they thought the blanks don't look quite as realistic with flashes/whatever? Now it all seems to have changed to there only being live ammunition around because of the crew target practice between takes, sounds like it was either misreported earlier or some details are being quietly shelved?

I guess those camera angles where you're looking right down the barrel should be done with replicas? Which makes complete sense. I know even a blank is dangerous if you're too close as the wadding stuff flies out in place of the bullet and can cause an injury, people have been killed that way.

I remember from the time of the incident there were reports of poor safety culture and cost-cutting on the set and, as producer, Alec Baldwin bears responsibility for that. I also remember industry professionals with particular expertise in this area saying that Baldwin should not have been rehearsing with that gun until the crew were behind a bulletproof screen, and he certainly shouldn't have been pointing it in their direction.

I was in the cadets for 4 years, I pointed many weapons at other kids and pulled the trigger, 100% trusting it was safe and I wouldn't kill someone. Those same weapons were used to fire live ammo in different situations. At 12 years old we were taught how to make a weapon safe, that is what the person in charge of the weapons should have done.

My DH was an instructor and DS was a cadet. They were both very clear that cadets must never, ever point a gun at anyone, even when the gun isn't real. Cadets would suspended from shooting exercises for doing it.

We were always shown what would happen if we shot a blank at someone. They always shot an apple at point blank and it would explode. But we did field exercise (infantry) for a weekend around every 2 months, we shot in the direction of our enemy (the other kids) I left the cadets circa 2006 so things may have changed.

@Bigweekend now I went onto the TA in artillery, so our field exercises were completely different. We didn't fire blanks at each other. We only had rifles with live ammo so under absolutely no circumstance's would you ever point that at someone. Even with the safety on you never let it point at your own toes either!

If the armourer is in charge of gun safety, but the armourer isn’t the armourer that day (she is being made to be the prop master’s assistant - even when she has highlighted how unsafe this is) then should she really be involved in this lawsuit? Shouldn’t it be on the production company who didn’t hire a full time armourer in the first place?

It all seems very messy and careless. It was literally an accident waiting to happen.

I have to agree with this.
It is heartbreaking for the family but I'm not sure the blame should lie with Baldwin.

It is heartbreaking for the family but I'm not sure the blame should lie with Baldwin

He pointed the gun towards people and fired. That is totally forbidden, even with blanks/prop guns and he'd have known this.
The fault is not entirely Baldwin's, but he bears some responsibility.

Plus it was a rehearsal, even less reason to do anything so dangerous. He should have had it modelled as safe, shouldn't have aimed anywhere dangerous, should have attended safety briefings (if reports that he didn't are true) and on top of that he then stalled handing by his phone to police for months and allowed his wife to post sickly instagram posts abut how hard it all was.

It is heartbreaking for the family but I'm not sure the blame should lie with Baldwin.

So you think it's ok to point a gun at an actual person and then pull the trigger?

Even if it were not loaded, the rules on sets are very clear - you never point a gun at and pull the trigger!!

Why don't people see how negligent and careless he was behaving?

And then he tried to lie, claiming he didn't pull the trigger

on top of that he then stalled handing by his phone to police for months

And this. He's clearly trying to avoid justice. He thinks he's above the law

Ah - well that makes a difference then.

Of course it does. He was the boss. It was his set. He was in charge, he wasn’t just the actor. It was his job to ensure all safety procedures in place and adhered to by qualified staff.

i think some folks think he was just an actor paid to do a role. And not it was his movie.

It's sad. Whoever you think could have been "less negligent", nobody meant harm to happen, someone died, no one wanted harm to happen, people made efforts to prevent harm from happening (however imperfect). So it's just sad.

people made efforts to prevent harm from happening

Unfortunately they didn't do their h
Job properly. Otherwise Halyna would not have died

A woman died though - a horrible, unnecessary death of a young mother. It's not enough to say people tried. Yes they tried and they failed. You can't just try to keep a film crew alive, you have to ensure it; to do any less is criminal negligence.
Responsibility has to be taken for Halyna's death, otherwise such a tragedy could happen again.

That is very clear and informative - thank you, @MrsTerryPratchett.

One question occurs to me about this - why would there be any live ammunition on a film set? I know I am ignorant on this matter, but I can’t see that there would be any circumstances in which live ammunition would be needed on a film set. So how did live ammo get onto the set at all?

I read in one report that the crew had been allowed to use the guns for target shooting off-set. I can imagine how easy it would be for a live round to be left in there if they weren't adequately checked afterwards. It was clearly negligent to allow the guns to be used that way, and that was at least partly Baldwin's responsibility.

Thanks @SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius

I think the story about why there was live ammo on set has changed from 'for more realism' to 'because people were shooting for fun on set'. Both sounds utterly incredible to me so we will see in court which they land on!

Did you read the thread? This has been repeatedly asked and answered.

At the time it happened, the press reported that the crew used the guns for target practice during down time. So live rounds were used and in the guns for that activity. With the lack of safety protocols on set, a live round was left in the gun.

That is from the press at the time. We may hear something else when it goes to court.