Alec Baldwin Fatally Shoots Crewmember on Film Set

[DoyleG]

Alec Baldwin fatally shoots woman with prop gun on movie set

The Director of Photography was killed in the incident. The films director was wounded.

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[Habsrule]

Such a terrible accident.

 

[Beau Knows]

Horrible, you'd think after the Brandon Lee incident they would have procedures in place that would make this impossible.

 

[TD Charlie]

Still not over that voicemail he left his daughter when she was a child.

 

[HanSolo]

What the hell

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Hopefully a full investigation is being done and someone, whether it’s Alec, or someone else, lands behind bars. This is literally inexcusable.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Why are live rounds still being used in 2021?

 

[Osprey]

As the article says, it was a "misfiring of a prop gun with blanks." That can still be deadly and they were filming a 19th-century Western, so the revolver or rifle may've not been the most reliable in the first place. For example, maybe the trigger was touchy and it went off accidentally. It's possible that Baldwin was careless, too, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt until we learn more.

Ironically, the plot of the movie involves an accidental killing.

 

[Don'tcry4mejanhrdina]

If I'm not mistaken, a blank is a round that has no projectile but still a significant amount of gun powder in it, which makes the loud noise when it's ignited by the primer that sounds similar to a real round going off. That gun powder is still under pressure, so it can still fire out of it any projectile that might be in the gun, like debris. I've heard of a case of someone putting a gun filled with blanks to their head and firing as a joke thinking it was harmless, but the pressure of the gunpowder had nowhere to go with the barrel pressed firmly against their skin so the person's skull actually fractured and essentially became a projectile itself, killing them.

In the case of Brandon Lee, they had earlier removed the gunpowder from cartridges to create a "dummy round" which has no gun powder but still has a primer and a projectile, so it looks authentic. The trigger was pulled with the dummy rounds in at some point but with no gun powder the bullet didn't fire completely but apparently there was still enough pressure that the bullet left the cartridge and became lodged in the chamber and nobody noticed. The gun was then loaded with blanks and when they were fired during the scene, that round caught in the chamber was fired, killing Brandon Lee.

Not sure what happened in this case here but I highly doubt it's anything intentional, just negligence/bad accident. I doubt Alec Baldwin is charged with a crime. He is the world's greatest actor, after all.

 

[Osprey]

Here's a Yahoo article that was just written:

Here’s How a Prop Gun Using Blanks Can Still Fire a Fatal Shot

 

[beowulf]

Brings back memories of Brandon Lee's death on the set of The Crow.

 

[syz]

Honestly I'm surprised there's nothing about Baldwin having any injuries. A cinematographer and director being the victims makes me think some shitty prop gun exploded backstage or something.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

If I'm not mistaken, a blank is a round that has no projectile but still a significant amount of gun powder in it, which makes the loud noise when it's ignited by the primer that sounds similar to a real round going off. That gun powder is still under pressure, so it can still fire out of it any projectile that might be in the gun, like debris. I've heard of a case of someone putting a gun filled with blanks to their head and firing as a joke thinking it was harmless, but the pressure of the gunpowder had nowhere to go with the barrel pressed firmly against their skin so the person's skull actually fractured and essentially became a projectile itself, killing them.

In the case of Brandon Lee, they had earlier removed the gunpowder from cartridges to create a "dummy round" which has no gun powder but still has a primer and a projectile, so it looks authentic. The trigger was pulled with the dummy rounds in at some point but with no gun powder the bullet didn't fire completely but apparently there was still enough pressure that the bullet left the cartridge and became lodged in the chamber and nobody noticed. The gun was then loaded with blanks and when they were fired during the scene, that round caught in the chamber was fired, killing Brandon Lee.

Not sure what happened in this case here but I highly doubt it's anything intentional, just negligence/bad accident. I doubt Alec Baldwin is charged with a crime. He is the world's greatest actor, after all.

That was Jon-Erik Hexum in the early 80s who accidentally killed himself with a prop gun.

It had wads of paper in it I believe and when he held it to his temple as a joke and pulled the trigger, the impact damaged his brain.

He went into a coma and died a few days later.

 

[Don'tcry4mejanhrdina]

That was Jon-Erik Hexum in the early 80s who accidentally killed himself with a prop gun.

It had wads of paper in it I believe and when he held it to his temple as a joke and pulled the trigger, the impact damaged his brain.

He went into a coma and died a few days later.

Ahh, yeah that must have been what I was thinking of.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

That was Jon-Erik Hexum in the early 80s who accidentally killed himself with a prop gun.

It had wads of paper in it I believe and when he held it to his temple as a joke and pulled the trigger, the impact damaged his brain.

He went into a coma and died a few days later.

Ahh, yeah that must have been what I was thinking of.

Unfortunately, both of these scenarios happened as you each explained them. Brandon Lee was killed when a bullet that was lodged within the barrell ended up being fired out after a dummy round was shot in the weapon.

Jon-Erik Hexum was playing around doing a pretend game of Russian Roulette in between filming after the scenes weren't filmed up to the director's standard. The plastic/paper debris from the dummy round was ejected from the weapon and damaged Hexum's brain.


I recently began buying replica western weapons to learn how to twirl (like Tombstone or Revolver Ocelot), and it is beyond me how Hollywood film crews could not have a licensed firearm expert there to inspect and clear every weapon before every scene. After these earlier two situations with Lee and Hexum I'm not sure why they even use fully functional firearms anyway, given the accuracy of non-firing replicas which can use caps and the capabilities of modern digital editing. It couldn't cost them more than a few hundred bucks to get a very high-quality non-firing replica.

 

[chicagoskycam]

I'm amazed this keeps happening. I don't know all the details but they often use real guns with blanks which are also dangerous or prop guns with debris still lodged in them. Terrible for everyone all around to deal with.

 

[RobBrown4PM]

Shitty luck created in-part by someone not doing their job properly, if all that is in the article is to be believed.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Also that the propmaster on set was non-union and there was no armorer either.

 

[Il Stugotz]

Sounds like there were many safety issues on this set. Hopefully those responsible will face some accountability.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Hopefully a full investigation is being done and someone, whether it’s Alec, or someone else, lands behind bars. This is literally inexcusable.

You expect/want Baldwin to go to prison for this? Fat chance

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Where Baldwin -can- get into actual trouble, at least based off what we know so far, is that he is one of the producers for the film.

 

[Beantown Beatdown]

I don't know much about how movies are made nor have I ever fired a gun, but how exactly do the director and cinematography get shot at? Would a cinematographer stand in to rehearse a scene or something? Why would the gun be pointed in their direction?

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

I don't know much about how movies are made nor have I ever fired a gun, but how exactly do the director and cinematography get shot at? Would a cinematographer stand in to rehearse a scene or something? Why would the gun be pointed in their direction?

Baldwin could have been going over a scene, discussing how it should look/change

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Very sad.

 

[OzzyFan]

Very sad. I'm curious if this happened while they were filming or if he was carrying it and/or just dropped it on set off camera. I learned that blanks were dangerous from the movie In Bruges: