Halyna Hutchins and Alec Baldwin
An assistant director handed Alec Baldwin a prop firearm and yelled “cold gun” before the actor fired the weapon, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza, according to a court document.
The “cold gun” remark was meant to indicate that the weapon did not have live rounds, according to an affidavit for a search warrant for the movie set filed by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and obtained by CNN affiliate KOAT.
According to the affidavit, Baldwin was handed one of three prop guns by assistant director David Halls that were set up in a cart by an armorer for the movie ‘Rust’.
Halls did not know there were live rounds in the gun, the affidavit said.
But when the actor fired the gun, a live round hit Hutchins, 42, in the chest and wounded Souza, 48, who was nearby, according to the affidavit.
Hutchins was pronounced dead at the hospital after being airlifted, the affidavit says. A verified GoFundMe page created for Hutchins’ family raised more than $100,000 in less than a day. Hutchins is survived by her husband and nine-year-old son, the page says.
Before Thursday’s shooting, some crew members quit the production over concerns related to safety — including gun inspections and COVID-19 protocols not being followed, according to the Los Angeles Times and other media reports.
Three crew members who were on the set last weekend told the Times there were two accidental prop gun discharges before Thursday.
The rounds were accidentally fired on October 16 by Baldwin’s stunt double after he was told the gun was “cold,” two of the crew members, who witnessed the discharges, told the newspaper.
The film’s production company told Deadline in a statement that it was not notified of official complaints regarding weapon or prop safety on set.
-CNN