Alec Baldwin missed firearm training before filming ‘Rust’ and was “distracted” during a catch-up session, prosecutors have claimed. The 64-year-old actor-and-producer has been formally charged with involuntary manslaughter following the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming of the western in October 2021, and court documents claim he failed to attend a session on handling guns before filming started, and wasn’t giving a brief on-set instruction session his full attention.
According to the district attorney’s office’s special investigator Robert Shilling’s probable cause filing – which was obtained by People magazine – he wrote Alec “was not present for required firearms training prior to the commencement of filming.
The documents went on to point out that armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed – who has also been charged with involuntary manslaughter but denies any wrongdoing – stated in her deposition that the actor had “limited training in firearms and how to check his own firearm as to whether it was unloaded or loaded”, and while he did attend a 30-minute training session on set, he appeared “distracted and [was] talking on his cell phone to his family during the training.
Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza injured when a prop gun held by the “Boss Baby” actor discharged a live round during rehearsal. The filing documents criticised Baldwin for not behaving like he “assume[d] the gun was loaded”.
They stated: “Baldwin directly pointed a firearm at Hutchins and Souza. Whether guided by [Gutierrez-Reed’s] directions or not, Baldwin knew the first rule of gun safety is never point a gun at someone you don’t intend on shooting.
Source: People
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On Thursday morning, the Siyathandana hitmaker shared photos of the Umlando star posing beside the drink. Learn more
