Alec Baldwin fired prop gun, killing 1 on movie set, Oct 2021 #4

[Gardenista]

After hearing he said he doesn't feel guilty, and that he posted on SM after the interview aired, I can't bring myself to watch. He's getting roasted on SM. We may find the gun malfunctioned, but his behavior is beyond disgusting.

 

[katydid23]

I do too. I think he’s traumatized and his saying someone else is responsible and he doesn’t feel guilt is a protective measure. Because I think he’s probably a very emotional person—he has terrible anger management issues, but I don’t think he’s some sociopath or anything. I think this floored him, and I bet he actually feels tremendous guilt.

And his account of what exactly happened at that moment is easy to verify with the witnesses in the room, So I believe that. And I believe he has no idea how the live round got onto the set or the into the gun. I’m glad he did the interview just for my own curiosity. It makes sense that they were blocking the scene and he pulled the hammer back and let go but did not pull the trigger. That totally explains the how it fired and where it fired.

I think he’s still somewhat in denial, and I believe that he’s devastated. Whether or not he’s responsible as a producer and whether or not he should have checked the gun as an actor are other arguments. But I believe his account and his feelings.

I think it is a weird thing for him to say he doesn't feel guilty. I have been on film sets for many years and I know for a fact that as the actor that is going to be handling a weapon on set, especially when pointing it at the crew, HE IS RESPONSIBLE for double checking that it is indeed unloaded or loaded correctly.

In this specific case, he should have WATCHED the armorer or the AD as they checked the ammo in front of him. Just having someone hand you the weapon and then taking their word for it is IRRESPONSIBLE on his part. [Especially after knowing there were a few mishaps with that same gun days earlier.]

As a long time actor, and producer, he knows better. He should feel guilty in my opinion. It wasn't ONLY his fault. But THREE people were tasked with checking, double checking and then triple checking the weapon before AB used it in rehearsal that day.

If any one of them had done their job properly, that 10 yr old would be Christmas shopping with his Mom this weekend.

 

[Mo Thuairim]

Analysis: Alec Baldwin’s Gun Could Have Fired Without Him Pulling the Trigger, But Did It?

(...)

In Baldwin’s case, though, the claim is at least somewhat more believable. That’s because the gun involved is more prone to firing without the trigger being pulled. And, even though it’s a modern replica of an antique design, it’s possible it did not include modern safety devices.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza identified the gun used in the shooting as a modern Pietta replica of a single-action army revolver. Those guns can be bought either with a transfer bar that makes it impossible for the firing pin to strike the primer unless the trigger is pulled or without one. Often, enthusiasts and collectors prefer the models without modern safety devices because it’s more authentic and perfectly safe when handled properly.

(...)

UPDATE 12-2-2021 9:33 PM: Alec Baldwin offered further details on how the deadly shooting occurred in the full ABC News interview.

(...)

This version of events is even more difficult to square with the idea that Baldwin never pulled the trigger.

(...)

What seems far more likely is Baldwin kept the trigger depressed as he pulled the hammer back. Then, when he released the hammer, the trigger kept the sears out of the way, and the gun fired.

(...)

More analysis at link

 

[jjenny]

It'd be easy enough to check if this particular gun fires when its hammer is pulled. I believe he didn't pull the trigger, just as he says. As for feeling guilty, he is clearly traumatized by the situation and is trying to deal with it.

 

[happyday]

I think he’ll be going to jail once it’s sorted.

Do you think it was intentional?

 

[GatorFL]

I think he’ll be going to jail once it’s sorted.

I sure hope so.

 

[GatorFL]

Was reading elsewhere and saw something interesting.

He was practicing his draw and said he cocked the gun and it fired. I bet he had his finger on the trigger so when he cocked the gun it fired.

This is how cowboys would fire quick shots with a single action revolver. It's called "fanning" they hold the trigger down and just *advertiser censored* the gun as fast as possible. We've all seen this in old Westerns and didn't even realize what the actor was doing.

Video, start at 1:20:

 

[GatorFL]

I believe him too. He is suffering emotionally.

I do not think he will be charged, and he doesn’t appear to want any of the others charged. Of course, it’s not up to him, and he’s well aware and supportive of a full investigation as to how a live round got into the gun.

IMO, ultimately, there will be justice for Halyna - in the form of a financial settlement with her family. It doesn’t bring back a wife, mother, daughter, but neither does jail time served.

Justice is rare in many cases we follow. Children go “missing”, women are disappeared by men through acts of domestic violence. Sometimes the perps go to prison, but often there isn’t enough solid evidence to even make an arrest. If they are arrested, they get to hang out for years on bail (B. Morphew). Or they take their own way out (F. Dulos, B. Laundrie, T. Sharkey). These are willful homicides, where justice is slowly, or never served.

This shooting was a tragic accident.

Lots of negligence by multiple parties, and preventable if those parties had paid attention, but still an accident.

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree that there should not be arrests. You can be criminally negligent and at the very least, Baldwin is criminally negligent. We don't know everything that LE knows but we know enough: he did not check the weapon before he drew it and pointed it at somebody else. He killed one person and injured another. If I were Halyna's family I would be pounding law enforcement for arrests.

 

[GatorFL]

Really interesting commentary from another actor about AB's interview:

WATCH: ‘Bull****’: John Schneider Blisters Baldwin For Tears In Stephanopoulos Interview | The Daily Wire

 

[happyday]

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree that there should not be arrests. You can be criminally negligent and at the very least, Baldwin is criminally negligent. We don't know everything that LE knows but we know enough: he did not check the weapon before he drew it and pointed it at somebody else. He killed one person and injured another. If I were Halyna's family I would be pounding law enforcement for arrests.

I don’t think he’ll be criminally charged. He’s one of many who was negligent, and I think he’s probably down on the list of most negligent. People can have opinions about whether or not he should have been shown the inside of the gun (actors really aren’t supposed to mess with it—only the armorer). But the fact is on film sets actors trust the experts on if the gun is safe to handle. Some actors will disagree and check it themselves but it’s not done that way a lot of the time. I’m not arguing whether that’s how it SHOULD be, but it is. So I think in the end if anyone is held criminally negligent, it will be someone else. I’ll bet though that this will be handled in the civil courts only. JMO

 

[JDG]

Do you think it was intentional?

Not necessarily.

 

[BeachSky]

I watched AB interview.
It really bothered me that he said more than once that SHE told him to point the gun toward her side ( under her arm) and when he asked HER should he pull back the hammer?.. SHE said yes…then SHE said release the hammer a little, followed by her saying now release the hammer completely…AB said so he did what SHE said…he released the hammer completely and the gun fired…
he heard a sound …and AB thought SHE fainted ( although Joel was screaming) . I did not like it when he said SHE and he had same thinking …that a real bullet was not in the gun chamber.
This is IMO blaming the victim (carefully) for all of HIS happenstance participation in her death. He said he clearly does not want to paint himself a victim …but that’s what he did!
I also picked up on AB defense of Hall…whilst defending the fact that in his past experience that himself & Hall should trust the “Prop Person” ..Or the now called Armorer .
I also did not like the referral to the 2 law suits. And all that pointing fingers at those ppl taking money away from her family.
IMO it was lots of circular talk on how others (including the victim ) seem to cause this pain & disruption to his life.

MOO

 

[neesaki]

I don’t think he’ll be criminally charged. He’s one of many who was negligent, and I think he’s probably down on the list of most negligent. People can have opinions about whether or not he should have been shown the inside of the gun (actors really aren’t supposed to mess with it—only the armorer). But the fact is on film sets actors trust the experts on if the gun is safe to handle. Some actors will disagree and check it themselves but it’s not done that way a lot of the time. I’m not arguing whether that’s how it SHOULD be, but it is. So I think in the end if anyone is held criminally negligent, it will be someone else. I’ll bet though that this will be handled in the civil courts only. JMO

I want to know how live ammo got in the gun, and who put it there.
Then my mind goes to the question, WHY did they load it with live ammo, knowing it was going to be used on set. Nefarious intent?

 

[Pseudonymph]

There's no way Alec Baldwin can go on TV and admit that he feels responsible. Lawyers everywhere would hear dollar signs. An interview doesn't always reflect a person's personal feelings. Based on all the photos and reports of him sobbing his eyes out, whatever happened, he feels terrible. Also, side note, in my experience with theater, actors never check their gun props themselves. You are handed the gun right before you go onstage and give it straight back to the armorist when you go offstage. Alec Baldwin is used to professional projects with a big budget, and I think he is used to trusting his people. I also don't know how many projects he has done where he used a gun. He himself may be inexperienced with guns on set.

 

[JaneEyre]

I watched AB interview.
It really bothered me that he said more than once that SHE told him to point the gun toward her side ( under her arm) and when he asked HER should he pull back the hammer?.. SHE said yes…then SHE said release the hammer a little, followed by her saying now release the hammer completely…AB said so he did what SHE said…he released the hammer completely and the gun fired…
he heard a sound …and AB thought SHE fainted ( although Joel was screaming) . I did not like it when he said SHE and he had same thinking …that a real bullet was not in the gun chamber.
This is IMO blaming the victim (carefully) for all of HIS happenstance participation in her death. He said he clearly does not want to paint himself a victim …but that’s what he did!
I also picked up on AB defense of Hall…whilst defending the fact that in his past experience that himself & Hall should trust the “Prop Person” ..Or the now called Armorer .
I also did not like the referral to the 2 law suits. And all that pointing fingers at those ppl taking money away from her family.
IMO it was lots of circular talk on how others (including the victim ) seem to cause this pain & disruption to his life.

MOO

So he should have left out facts that pertained to what he was instructed to do?

 

[ilovewings]

Alec Baldwin blames victim in sickening interview

Alec should not have done this horrible interview: prior to this I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt: it was a horrible accident and who put a live bullet in the gun: but this interview was so self serving and such BS- that if I was the family of the poor woman he shot and killed, I would be furious. On top of that he had the gall to blame the victim. I never liked Alec Baldwin but I did not feel it was right to dump on him with respect to this horrible incident because I felt there were a series of horrible events that resulted in this poor woman being killed. But I have changed my mind: He is now just covering his butt and it ain't pretty.

 

[steeltowngirl]

Alec Baldwin’s First Interview: ‘I Know It’s Not Me’ Who Is Responsible for Halyna Hutchins’ Death

Snips from the article:
….
Baldwin faces two opportunities for blame in his roles as both actor and producer. There’s Baldwin the actor, who practiced removing the gun from his holster and aiming it toward the camera when it discharged during a marking rehearsal. Baldwin said he took direction from Hutchins as she planned shots from a monitor next to a camera that was pointed at Baldwin.

“She says, ‘Go to your right. Okay, right there. Alright do that, go a little bit lower.’ She’s getting me to position the gun,” Baldwin said. “I said to her ‘OK, now in this scene, I’m going to *advertiser censored* the gun.’ I said, ‘Do you want to see that?’ And she said ‘Yes.'”

Baldwin said he proceeded to *advertiser censored* the gun with continued direction from Hutchins. “I let go of the hammer of the gun and the gun goes off,” he said. “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger.”

…
The ABC special included an audio clip of George Clooney, where the actor said he always checks guns himself when he’s on set. But that’s not what Baldwin does, he said, as a matter of practice that he began in his earliest experiences as an actor.

…
“ What I was taught by someone years ago … If I took a gun and I popped the clip out of a gun, or I manipulated the chamber of a gun, they would take the gun away from me and redo it. The person said ‘Don’t do that … We don’t want the actor to be the last line of defense against a catastrophic breach of safety. My job, they told me — man or woman — my job is to make sure the gun is safe and that I hand you the gun.'”

 

[BeachSky]

Alec Baldwin blames victim in sickening interview

Alec should not have done this horrible interview: prior to this I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt: it was a horrible accident and who put a live bullet in the gun: but this interview was so self serving and such BS- that if I was the family of the poor woman he shot and killed, I would be furious. On top of that he had the gall to blame the victim. I never liked Alec Baldwin but I did not feel it was right to dump on him with respect to this horrible incident because I felt there were a series of horrible events that resulted in this poor woman being killed. But I have changed my mind: He is now just covering his butt and it ain't pretty.

exactly!!!!
Alec Baldwin blames victim in sickening interview

 

[MaryG12]

Baldwin: ‘Someone is responsible’ for shooting, but ‘not me’

“I didn’t pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them. Never.”

He said it was Hutchins herself who asked him to point the gun just off camera and toward her armpit before it went off.

..................................

WOW.

If this is not the worst case of blaming the victim, then I don't know what is.

AB needs to stay far away from guns.

 

[happyday]

Alec Baldwin blames victim in sickening interview

Alec should not have done this horrible interview: prior to this I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt: it was a horrible accident and who put a live bullet in the gun: but this interview was so self serving and such BS- that if I was the family of the poor woman he shot and killed, I would be furious. On top of that he had the gall to blame the victim. I never liked Alec Baldwin but I did not feel it was right to dump on him with respect to this horrible incident because I felt there were a series of horrible events that resulted in this poor woman being killed. But I have changed my mind: He is now just covering his butt and it ain't pretty.

I agree the interview was self serving and he shouldn’t have done it. But I don’t think he was victim blaming. I think he was desperate for people to hear that she was just doing her job and he was doing his and that he didn’t just start pointing the gun at people and pulling the trigger. I think what he describes is probably what happened & that’s not blaming her. He seems very upset by the looks people give him and things being said, but his need to tell his side shouldn’t be indulged at this time IMO. I’m glad for the interview for my own curiosity, but he shouldn’t be concerned with what the public thinks right now.