Film crew ‘used Baldwin gun for live target practice’
THE gun that Alec Baldwin accidentally killed a cinematographer with had been used by crew members for live target practice.
Sources from the movie’s production unit told US site TMZ the gun was used for recreational purposes off set, with real ammunition – which may have been left in the weapon by accident before it was handed to Baldwin, 63.
The revelation comes after the husband of the woman killed accidentally left a US hotel with his son after an emotional meeting with the Hollywood star.
Halyna Hutchins, 42, died and director Joel Souza, 48, was injured after a film set gun fired live bullets instead of blanks.
The horrific incident happened on the New Mexico set of new Western, Rust – which Baldwin is also producing – on Thursday.
Baldwin later met Halyna’s husband Matthew and the couple’s son Andros, nine, at their hotel in Santa Fe, where they held a private memorial service.
Bloodstained
Matthew, 38, who left the Santa Fe hotel with Andros on Saturday, said Baldwin was being “very supportive”.
The star, 63, has said he is “broken-hearted” and is cooperating with the police probe.
Court documents suggest an assistant director handed Baldwin the weapon moments before the shooting, saying “cold gun” – a message to indicate it was safe to use.
Halyna was reportedly hit in the chest by a bullet as she lined up a take behind a camera. It also went through Joel’s collarbone as he crouched behind her. Officers at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, where the fatal shooting took place, were reportedly seeking Baldwin’s bloodstained costume as evidence.
Matthew said in a statement read at a vigil on Saturday: “Halyna inspired us all with her pas
sion and vision and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words. Our loss is enormous.”
Some attending the vigil held up signs saying “She deserved a safe workplace!” and “SOS – Safety on sets”.
A member of Halyna’s camera crew who walked off the set over safety issues days before the fatality has said they would demand “justice” over her death.
Meanwhile, a firearms expert said the tragedy was caused by a “cascade of failures”.
Zak Knight said: “There should have never been live rounds on a movie set, that’s number one. Number two, every single person on a movie set has a right to inspect a weapon before it’s fired.
“Number three, there is no reason to ever put a person in front of a weapon that’s firing.”
Halyna’s father Anatoly Androsovych has said: “I don’t hold Alec responsible. It is the responsibility of the props people who handle the guns.”
Her sister Svetlana said: “How was this negligence allowed by such a team of professionals?”