Actor Alec Baldwin was practicing drawing his gun, pointed at the camera, when the fatal shot at a cinematographer fired during a shoot in the United States, new details of the drama revealed Monday.
Director Joel Souza, injured in the shoulder by the shooting and recovering, said he heard what sounded like
"the sound of a whip, and a big 'bang'"
as he stood behind the victim, Halyna Hutchins, specifies this new preliminary investigation report consulted by AFP.
Read also Alec Baldwin: the unanswered questions after his fatal shooting
The crew were filming a western called "Rust" in the state of New Mexico.
"Alec (Baldwin) was sitting on a bench in a church setting, and he was practicing drawing,"
the document reports.
The director was looking at him over the shoulder of the 42-year-old cinematographer, who was shot in the torso on Thursday and was pronounced dead hours later.
After the shot, the filmmaker
"grabbed the abdomen"
and said she could no longer feel her legs, the director added, adding that she
"began to stumble back"
and was
"helped to put down ”.
Cameraman Reid Russell said the scene was not filmed.
Assistant director Dave Halls had claimed that the weapon was
"cold"
, that is to say, supposed to be empty and therefore harmless in cinema jargon.
Joel Souza, however, said
"not to be sure"
that the weapon underwent another security check after the team's lunch break.
In any case, a shot was fired, an accident that sent shock waves through Hollywood.
The "lack of professionalism" involved
The investigation, still ongoing, has not yet clarified the responsibilities of those present that day - no prosecution has been initiated - but attention is focused on those who handled the weapon before. the shot. According to Joel Souza, apart from actor Alec Baldwin, two people wielded the weapon. The first, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, is a 24-year-old film gunsmith. It was she who had prepared the revolver, and placed it on a cart with two other weapons.
The chief electrician of the shoot, who says he held Halyna Hutchins in his arms after her fatal injury, blasted on Facebook a tragedy caused by
"negligence and lack of professionalism".
"In no way can a 24-year-old woman be a professional in matters of weapons"
, wrote angrily Serge Svetnoy, pointing to the lack of experience of Hannah Gutierrez Reed.
"To save money, we sometimes hire people who are not fully qualified for a complicated and dangerous job
,
" he
accuses.
Petition for a ban on firearms on filming
Guillaume Delouche, gunsmith for Hollywood for nearly 30 years, said he was
"very surprised"
that someone of this age and with only two films to his credit,
"could be a chief gunsmith on a film which must contain a lot of scenes. combat with firearms ”.
The second person in the line of sight in the investigation is assistant director Dave Halls, who handed the gun to Alec Baldwin informing him that it was not loaded. Dave Halls
"didn't know the gun was loaded with live ammunition"
Another report from an agent with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office said. NBC News Sunday.
Contacted by AFP, the producers did not react immediately, nor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed who deleted her accounts on social networks.
Sunday, a vigil in tribute to Halyna Hutchins was organized in Burbank, near Los Angeles.
The mood was steeped in bitterness and sadness, with attendees eager to know how such a tragedy had been possible.
The drama revived the debate on the safety of teams and the use of weapons on the sets.
A petition on the change.org site, calling for a ban on live firearms on filming and better working conditions for crews, had collected more than 27,000 signatures as of midday Monday.
