Actor Alec Baldwin, who accidentally shot to death yesterday (Friday) in the house of 42-year-old Halina Hutchins during the filming of the movie "Rust" in which he participates and which he produces, was apparently given a gun with live bullets, according to police investigation into the fatal shooting. The film's director, Joel Souza, was also injured.
According to an affidavit released by Santa Fe Police, an assistant director handed Baldwin one of the three pistols used as production accessories in the filming.
The same assistant director also shouted on the set that it was a "cold gun," meaning a weapon that did not include live ammunition.
Later, Baldwin fired a gun and hit Hutchins in the chest at close range and on the shoulder of Sousa, who was standing behind the photographer.
It was further reported that all three guns were prepared for filming on the set by the gun officer, and that the assistant director, like Baldwin, did not know that the gun contained live bullets.
Aerial photo of the set of the film "Rust", in which actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot to death a photographer, Photo: Roberto E. Rosales / Albuquerque Journal
In addition, police issued a search warrant for the Western set of photographs in order to search for "Western-style clothing" that Baldwin was wearing that appeared to have blood stains on it.
Police are also looking for weapons, documentation, ammunition and cameras from the film's set, which were stopped immediately after the incident.
As the shooting continued, questions arose about the working conditions on the set. According to reports on the American entertainment website Deadline Hollywood and the Los Angeles Times, a number of crew members and other people close to the production said six or seven camera operators resigned and angrily left the set a few hours before the tragedy, claiming they reported safety deficiencies. , Reports that in their opinion did not receive appropriate treatment. In both places it was written that there was at least one case of bullet ejection in one of the three guns.
"We were not paid for three weeks, prevented from staying in hotels even though this issue appeared in our contract, did not follow Corona's guidelines and maintaining gun safety in the set was poor," one of the camera operators wrote on his Facebook page, according to Deadline Hollywood.
In response to the publication, the production company "Rust", which produces the film, said that its people had not received any formal complaints regarding the fear of weapons, but that it would conduct an internal investigation into my work processes while the production was disabled.
Aerial photo of the set of the film "Rust", in which actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot to death a photographer, Photo: Roberto E. Rosales / Albuquerque Journal
Concurrent with complaints about safety procedures, police are investigating whether there is documentation of the fatal incident, which occurred in an internal rehearsal set of the production, which was filmed in New Mexico.
With that not enough, in the last day a video has resurfaced in which another actor participating in the film, Jensen Eccles, is seen talking about shooting training on the set of "Rust".
The video was apparently shot between October 15 and 17, that is, just about a week before the disaster, during a fan event of the movie "Supernatural" in which Ecclesiastically starred.
In the video, Eccles is seen recounting his briefing with the weapons officer.
Eccles told him he arrived at the set at 6 a.m., and the person in charge told him to choose a weapon he would like to use for filming.
When asked by her if he had any experience shooting a gun, he answered her a little, and she replied, "Okay, so that's how you load the gun, and that's how we test it and make sure it's safe."
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So, the actor said, the gun officer told him she would put some empty bullets in the gun, and she ordered him to "shoot a few rounds" into a remote area.
"I walked away, and then she told me 'just make sure you hit the trigger all the way and aim for the target,' and I told her 'no problem, I got it.'"
So far there is no evidence that Eccles was part of the scene during which the shooting took place.
The actor himself has also not yet commented on the incident or the video, which raises questions as to whether there was negligence in adhering to the safety procedures of using weapons in the set.