Grand jury in New Mexico charged the actor for a shooting on Rust set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Actor Alec Baldwin is facing a new involuntary manslaughter charge over the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the movie Rust.

A Santa Fe, New Mexico, grand jury indicted Baldwin on Friday, months after prosecutors had dismissed the same criminal charge against him.

During an October 2021 rehearsal on the set of Rust, a western drama, Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when it went off, fatally striking her and wounding Joel Souza, the film’s director.

Baldwin, a co-producer and star of the film, has said he did not pull the trigger, but pulled back the hammer of the gun before it fired.

Last April, special prosecutors dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin, saying the firearm might have been modified prior to the shooting and malfunctioned and that forensic analysis was warranted. But in August, prosecutors said they were considering re-filing the charges after a new analysis of the weapon was completed.

  • n3m37h@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    42
    ·
    10 months ago

    Rule 1 of gun safety, check the gun you’re handed for any ammunition.

    What else needs to be said?

    Everything else is its own issue to be dealt with.

    He was given a firearm, did not do HIS due dilligence by checking the gun. He killed a fucking human being. . End of story

    • ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      Can’t really expect that any more than you expect that Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone personally made sure the paint buckets he swung at Joe Pesci were actually empty. It’s just not how it works.

      It’s up to the props people, in this case the armorer.

      • n3m37h@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        10 months ago

        Youre forgetting the 50 year age difference, I dont expect anyone under the age of 15 to be responsible for setting anything up on a set. It takes 10 seconds to check a gun for blanks vs bullets. Frankly anyone who handles a gun anywhere be it real or have which blanks should know the difference and should check.

        This particular model you could not see any bullets so how hard would it be to open the cover and rotate the cylinder 6 times?

        Blanks are just as dangerous as real bullets just at different ranges.

        Alec has been around guns for how long? And didnt learn basic gun safety?

        Íve had to follow safety rules in every job ive been on. Ive uses just about every tool including both air and propane nail guns and the first rule is dont point it at anything tou dont plan on nailing and that has safety to prevent it from firing if not against an object.

        So why are actors any different? They get paid a fuckload more then me and dont have to follow safety and often make others do dangerous shit stunts and dont get salaries or recognition the actors do.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      10 months ago

      I honestly would not expect a bunch of Californian actors to know that. You’re often not dealing with a crowd of people who grew up hunting or at the range. You’re dealing with people who hire an armorer to bring that expertise to the set.

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        10 months ago

        99% of people who incessantly spout out Da Rules on the Internet have never held a gun in their life, and would be more likely to ND than the average youtube shorts guntuber

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        10 months ago

        I grew up in fscking Moscow and have never shot one live round, but I know the same rules (because they apply for anything remotely similar, including toy pneumatic guns with which you can leave someone without an eye, construction guns, toy bows and crossbows …).

        The armorer is 100% guilty, but that’s not the same as saying that 100% of guilt is on the armorer.

    • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      10 months ago

      The rules of firearm safety apply when your buddy is showing off his new canik, not when you’re a professional on a movie set. A million other actors have ignored those rules on a million other sets, and it’s typically perfectly safe because the armorers know what they’re doing, and the crew isn’t bringing live rounds on set.

    • negativeyoda@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      I mean… by this metric Michael Massee should have done time for shooting Brandon Lee during the filming of The Crow.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        No, there was a rare accident with one blank pushing out a piece of the previous blank stuck or something.