Accident on the film set: fatal shot at Baldwin filming: weapon master defends herself

Accident on the film set
Fatal shot at Baldwin filming: armorer defends herself

After the death of a camerawoman while shooting a film with Hollywood star Alec Baldwin in the United States, the gun master, in focus, rejected allegations of negligence on the set.

She had “no idea” where the live ammunition found there came from, the 24-year-old told her lawyers in a letter from which several US media quoted.

In the incident during the filming of the low-budget western “Rust” on a film ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, chief cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (42) was fatally injured and director Joel Souza (48) at the Shoulder hit. Baldwin (63), who is the main actor and producer in the film, had fired the gun during the rehearsal for a scene.

Investigations revealed that there was a real bullet in the Colt. An assistant director, who was also in focus, admitted that he had not strictly followed the safety precautions and only incompletely checked the weapon.

Sheriff Adan Mendoza had said with regard to the handling of weapons: “I think there was a certain carelessness about this set.” The armorer now complained about unsafe working conditions. “The entire set was unsafe due to various factors, including a lack of security briefing,” the broadcaster NBC News and the Los Angeles Times quoted from the letter. This was not the gunsmith’s fault, the lawyers said.

The 24-year-old was hired for two different tasks, so it was extremely difficult for her to focus on her work as an armorer. In vain did she spend more time training the actors, maintaining the guns and preparing shooting scenes.

The young woman herself was also “devastated” because of the death of the camerawoman and was completely beside herself, it was said. Sheriff Mendoza told NBC News that the gunsmith’s statement was of little help: “It raises more questions than it gives answers.”

dpa