District attorney explains decision to charge Alec Baldwin over ‘Rust’ shooting

Santa Fe district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies speaks with CNN's Josh Campbell about her decision to charge "Rust" actor and producer Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed each will involuntary manslaughter over the 2021 fatal movie set shooting. #CNN #News

79 comments

  1. I still shake my head. Who the heck put those bullets in the gunnn? Why did they have to use a real gun??

    1. @AbbersJ cause Iโ€™m dealing with someone who has the intellect of about the same age. Just wanted to make sure you understood me clearly.

    2. I didn’t know you were that naive, they use a real gun because they or she want it to kill that lady, and who do you think put bullets in the gun ? the armorer. ( jealousy )

  2. That same armourer was used in the Nicolas Cage western “The Old Way”.
    She did a mistake that cause Cage to walk off the set. They mention the story on *IMDb* movie review site.

    1. @B Bodziak the DA is making a mistake because they will never get a conviction on Baldwin. In the Brandon Lee case the actor was never even charged and he also never checked the gun. It simply isn’t required that actors do such checks.

    2. @B Bodziak You need to stop thinking emotionally and be an adult. Screaming “it’s not fair” is not a mature argument. All of those instances have Nothing to do with Mr. Baldwin’s wanton amd reckless behavior. Also 2 other people Were charged so it is obvious you are not using your brain.

    3. @B Bodziak Well like she had stated as she was asked she’s actually trying to make an only just a point to this whole thing but a big statement in this industry and as well as in a lot of Industries, that just because this is an accident and it involved a big celebrity it does not mean that this is not criminal in it’s finding

  3. Firearm safety complacency kills bunches of people every year. With this particular cases there a quite a few things that just don’t add up. Supposedly there were no live rounds anywhere on the set, yet it’s been stated that the film crew had target practice there in the vicinity.

    1. @Music Man that whole ‘pay is low line’ won’t fly.

      If the garbage man throws a garbage can on your car smashing the window, who’s fault is that.

    2. @Music Man “You need to understand that Hannah was told to go do something else while this scene was being rehearsed.” – That is irrelevant. If she is the armorer, then she is the one who is responsible fir the firearms, full stop. It was her responsibility to ensure that all firearms were locked up whenever she was not present.

      “A 20 something year old woman will not stand up against a red carpet star and say: ‘No, you canโ€™t shoot this without me present.'” – If she didn’t have the backbone to do that, then she should have refused the job because that is EXACTLY what an armorer NEEDS to do, not only because it’s the law, but because it’s common sense. It’s called responsibility. She didn’t take her job seriously and someone got killed because of it.

      It was also her job to make sure no live ammo got on-set. Care to try to explain that one away as well?

    3. @James Bliehall he was warned beforehand about safety on the set and failed to act…..that’s why he is being charged and rightly so โ€ผ๏ธ

    4. @B Bodziak If the armorer is not in the room its pretty hard to check the gun in front of the actor. Fails on both especially the shooter. Follow simple rules and no one gets hurt. Live ammo is never a problem at a gun range with 50 people and guns all with LIVE rounds. Live ammo does not point the gun at people, live ammo does not pull the trigger.
      Treat all guns as if they have live blanks, live rounds with bullets. Think you are above checking than this can occur. Many layers of common sense, and safety had to be broken for this to occur.

  4. I donโ€™t know whether actors have the responsibility to know the difference between a loaded gun and a non loaded gun and live ammunition but it is definitely Alec baldwins responsibility to make sure everything is safe as a producer

    1. boys & toys.: never let the lower brained/unintelligent make adult decisions. unless it has been planned that way. well then that would be a different story. so who has been programming the unknown script. for us all to know this ending. puppets ya’all are. duh!

    2. And he can say that the safety on set where weapons were concerned, was the very reason he, as a producer, hired a certified armorer. Since it was a prop gun, the armorer loaded the rounds into the weapon for the scene, which means that she is the one who loaded the live round in the gun. She was a certified armorer on the set, responcibilty remains with her. She should be able to tell the difference between a live round and a blank.

    3. @cunard61 Exactly. He’s famously anti-gun, so he’s not qualified to “check” anything and moreover, actors _aren’t allowed_ to tamper with the weapons. The DA whining about him being negligent as an actor will get shut down very fast. As for as a producer, the only case she can try to build is if she can prove he had heard the complaints about safety, but I’m doubtful she can, we never heard anybody say WHO they complained to.

  5. This is a very important case in terms as safety on set. I have been on many sets where safety was just not a priority hopefully this will help.

    1. Yes, and there were safety complaints 2 weeks prior to the shooting. In fact many people Quit because of hteir very real concerns about how unafe it was on this set.

  6. I’ve worked on a handful of ultra low-budget films, but whenever there was a firearm on set, there was utmost professionalism. Even as a lowly set PA, I knew exactly what was supposed to happen, as everyone did, and when firearms were coming on to set, everyone stopped what they were doing and observed adherence to safety protocols.Such a tragedy.

    1. So what did he do wrong? Do the actors always double check guns that are supposed to be prop guns, even after they are assured they have been checked there, in person? Who the fuk would put bullets in a gun on set that wasnโ€™t supposed to be loaded ? I just love how Righteous and perfect all the commenters are knowing (in hindsight)they are exempt from a tragic accident ever happening to them. Accidents usually happen when at least a couple of margins of error collide. This was a tragic accident not a reckless act of manslaughter. The only person who knows the truth is the person who loaded that gun,they donโ€™t use live guns on set do they? Who would bring a loaded gun to a movie set or put a bullet in a supposed prop gun? There was reportedly a lot of disgruntled workers and some sort of upset the night before the accident. Someone on the set knows how the bullets got in that gun.As for the trolls saying he murdered her, thatโ€™s just poppycock and shame on such accusations. Bad form.

    2. truly. I’ve been weapons wrangler for some absolutely tiny productions, and EVEN when we had no bullets in the house at all, any firearms were treated with the utmost caution. a firearm is never a toy, it never even got pointed at an actual person! we specifically blocked the actors so that it was an angle fake-out! for rehearsals, we put weights in a squirtgun so that the real thing didn’t even have to come out of the box! it can be done, someone NEVER should be on the other end of a weapon! what a horrible tragedy

    3. @Vipstarizm have very really seen a safety officer on a shoot and when they do arrive it usually concerns a large construction

    1. The Actor was wrong in doing such. The Gun Laws of NM trumps all “procedures, habits and practices” of all institutions in NM….just like everywhere else. This is what is preventing the Company you work for saying “in this Company we are allowed to rape all interns.”

    2. @thomas cadwalader Thomas, think about that for a moment. So you have never seen any of the thousands of Hollywood or foreign “action films” where actors point weapons at each other and then fire blank loads?? The 2,000 extras with guns in “The Charge of the Light Brigade” were all PERSONALLY responsible to make sure they didn’t have a live round in their rifle??
      REALLY???
      I have NO USE for Alec Baldwin, but he was handed what was described by the director as a “cold weapon.” He had NO responsibility to assume it wasn’t and check it again.
      Those of us that use weapons almost every day believe he SHOULD HAVE checked it -but he wasn’t required to do so

    3. @James Bliehall Most guns in movies are modified so they can’t chamber live rounds, only blanks. They are called prop guns. In a scene like this one, where the rounds in the chamber are visible in the closeup or when it would otherwise be obvious that the gun was fake, they use a real gun and dummy rounds. Google Brandon Lee’s death for a good rundown of this.
      The unusual use of a real gun in a scene requires all the same care and safety protocols anytime a real gun is used anywhere. The armorer and the actor (and an AD that inserts himself in the process)are PERSONALLY REQUIRED to check the weapon…if they don’t and somebody dies, they get charged, no way around it.

  7. This is truly wasting time because thereโ€™s no proof this was done intentionally, the person in charge of loading and providing the gun should be suspended forever, these people have something else in mind, attaching themselves to something like this is just looking for attention and cheap fame. We have real criminals in this country that needs to be investigated.

    1. Well, there was that one woman who was on set and then she went on TV and fake-cried (or at least tried to) so that she could claim she was traumatized from seeing it happen and therefore sue him. ๐Ÿ™„ As for the DA, apparently, she’s a democrat, so it’s not a political thing, so maybe she’s just hoping to “make her bones” with this case. ๐Ÿคท

    2. Just because it was an accident doesnโ€™t mean it wasnโ€™t a crime. You clearly didnโ€™t listen to a single thing the DA said.

  8. She said yea Thereโ€™s no way impossible a gun cannot turn on without someoneโ€™s hands๐Ÿ˜… savage she on point

  9. Iโ€™m sure this would come up at some point and I understand it was in a different time frame, but was anyone charged in โ€œthe crowโ€accident? In my opinion that was an even more negligent accident and not sure that incident went this far. And again, IMO, that Dutch guy is kinda rightโ€ฆactors trust there using safe props and equipmentโ€ฆthose prop people are hired for that specific reason. Thatโ€™s there responsibility

    1. Yup. It’s the Jurassic Park “You had one job!” meme brought to life.
      Maybe Alec has some civil liability, but the armorer has majority blame.

    2. No, nobody was charged. In that case, Michael Massee was traumatized for being the one to pull the trigger, but it wasn’t his fault at all, there was a bullet fragment stuck in the barrel that should not have been there if the weapons-master had done their job and thoroughly inspected it, so the liability would have lied with them, not Massee.

    3. @m inspecting the barrel of the weapon before handing it to the actor wasnโ€™t a standard industry protocol then. It is now because of that tragedy. Another industry standard is the armorer performing a visual inspection of the weapon in front of the actor and the assistant director before handing them a firearm. Baldwin should never have accepted the firearm from the AD in the first place.

  10. Why in the heck would they have live rounds at all? They should never even be allowed to have live rounds near a movie set! Who ever was in charge of props is responsible!

  11. My question is, why was the gun pointed at a cinematographer in the first place? Or was it not pointed at the victim on purpose?
    Not on either side. But it’s very sad that a young woman lost her life and sincere condolences go to her family. May she rest in peace. ๐Ÿ™

    1. Think about that for a moment. So you have never seen any of the thousands of Hollywood or foreign “action films” where actors point weapons at each other and then fire blank loads?? The 2,000 extras with guns in “The Charge of the Light Brigade” were all PERSONALLY responsible to make sure they didn’t have a live round in their rifle??
      REALLY???
      I have NO USE for Alec Baldwin, but he was handed what was described by the director as a “cold weapon.” He had NO responsibility to assume it wasn’t and check it again.
      Those of us that use weapons almost every day believe he SHOULD HAVE checked it -but he wasn’t required to do so

    2. The DA is trying to make it out like he aimed at her, but that’s not the case at all, he was pointing towards-ish the camera and the cinematographer was behind it, obviously.

    3. Ok so there were one dead, and another wounded. How come no one is not charged for the wounded one? Asking for a friend who is very shy.

    4. exactly. people seem to think that a) the only way to make a good movie is for everything to be ‘real’ and b) that somehow because it was for a movie, basic safety principles didn’t need to be considered. A: it’s a fucking movie, it’s all fake! that’s the point! I don’t go to star trek and get mad that they faked out warp drives, because I can tell the difference between reality and fiction, and movies are by nature meant to be fake. but also B: it doesn’t fucking matter that’s it’s a movie set. someone died. there’s no excuse. a reasonable person, and I use that term specifically, should not be so negligent as to cause another person’s death.
      nah homes, yeah, you’re asking the right kind of question.

  12. A lot of people hate him but one particle person hated him the most, and promise he will get him. Someone set him up and set him very well. I believe Alec is already prosecuted by just knowing he took her life, his life will never be the same.

    1. Hmm, I hadn’t considered a frame-job. Statistically, it’s unlikely, but come to think of it, maybe Hanlon’s Razor doesn’t actually apply here, there is definitely a pomelo that would have loved to set him upโ€ฆ ๐Ÿค”

    2. @rolback ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™€๏ธand you’re a typical Republican arse that blames everything on democrats ๐Ÿ™„๐Ÿ˜‚

  13. Sheโ€™s โ€œshootingโ€ for judgeship.
    Lawyers, prosecutors have insensitive for keeping a sad incident alive. She seems overzealous and eager for a win.

  14. I don’t even have live rounds in the same room when cleaning or working on my firearms. Kind of sucks for the two of them, but if the firearm is in your hands, you’re ultimately responsible for making sure of its function and condition. And if you don’t know how to do that, you shouldn’t have it nor be allowed to have it (by the armorer) in your hands in the first place. This is outright negligence – not an accident.

    1. L:en, this was a MOVIE SET!!! I have NO USE for Alec Baldwin, but he was handed what was described by the director as a “cold weapon.” He had NO responsibility to assume it wasn’t and check it again.
      Those of us that use weapons almost every day believe he SHOULD HAVE checked it -but he wasn’t required to do so.

  15. Its almost always takes 2 or 3 people to overlook something or just not care for a tragedy to take place.

    1. Sure, but Baldwin wasn’t one of them. He’s not responsible for checking it, he’s not qualified to check it, and he’s not allowed to check/tamper with it, that’s what the experts are for. You don’t see people saying he should have also checked the wiring instead of hiring electricians to do it, do you? Or handling he horses? Or checking the integrity of the sets instead of trusting the carpenters did their job?

    2. @m Alec was warned repeatedly by his cast members about safety issues and failed to respond. He deserves those charges โ€ผ๏ธ

    3. ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ‘๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŽฏ Yea in this country that’s how they have actually defined accidents as two or more entities not in compliance or overlooking or negligent in their duties
      WAY sad ๐Ÿ˜” for everybody and ALL Ppls involved ๐Ÿ˜ข

  16. The armorer was only 24 yrs old. Her dad is a sharp shooter/movie consultant. I canโ€™t imagine she would have gotten a job as the only armorer/prop director in a Hollywood film with so little professional experience in that capacity, without her fatherโ€™s reputation.

    1. Ya she was way over her head. Apparently she filed multiple safety violation complaints but nothing was addressed, that might save her bacon

    2. That sounds right, when youre trying to train a relative, your judgement is biased and they also get special treatment thats detrimental to the training. She was obviously immature, seen her on video ON SETS, posting to instagram holding weapons in a stupid way, and seen her say that loading the weapons was the ‘scary part’ so she clearly wasn’t competent, nor knew enough about what she was tasked to do to be comfortable. And she booked jobs on the strength of the relatives reputation. She had screw ups with blanks being in guns when they weren’t supposed to be on a prior film starring Nicholas Cage who wasn’t happy about it, and thats documented. In dozens of films where I carried guns, I’ve never run into a film armorer that was a woman, or immature, who smoked dope at work, or was lax in the safety protocols. Looks like she was a major fukk up. The point of having an armorer who keeps the weapons under lock and key, and has draconian rules delivered in a safety meeting about what NOT to do, is to keep the actors from messing around with the prop guns. No one is allowed to ‘open’ or ‘check’ their prop weapon. That would be chaos. Most of the time its part of the costume (as when playing a police officer) and you’re not permitted to take the prop gun out of the holster since they look real even if they’re just molded rubber guns. The other actors on the set can’t tell if its a real gun or not… and there’s no reason for any responsible person to take the prop gun out of the holster. Only an immature jerk would do that, and the way that is handled with Extras is they’re fired off the film, reported to the casting company, and sent home immediately, end of story.

    3. @Jack Arroway if an actor needs to practice various gun tricks, they are gonna have to use a real gun. Alec’s only mistake was pulling the trigger while having it pointed at a living person. The ONLY time that is acceptable is if you intend to kill the person. Sex has nothing to do with it, women are perfectly capable of being armorers. It’s weird that you mentioned that. 24 is not old but it’s not young either. Many 24 year-old women are mature and competent, often more so than their male counterparts. I’m not sure what “dope” is, but the following should not be consumed while handling firearms: illegal and/or prescribed depressants (heroin, oxycodone), hallucinogens (LSD, MDMA) alcohol, and/or weed (NOT dope, Gramps) “Looks like she was a major fu*k up.” Dude, you don’t know. From what it sounds like, you just don’t like her. Cool, nobody cares about your FEELINGS for her. If you liked her, would that mean she shouldn’t be charged? Lastly, her IG postings are moot. Stop being such an old man.

  17. My heart goes out to Helena and her family. There should be a law: No live ammunition on any set. Period. Even as a child I learned: You never point a gun at anyone. Alec Baldwin should have known better. He pointed the gun and pulled the trigger. Tired of people’s sense of entitlement. No one escapes their Karma

    1. Adding a useless law would have changed nothing that day. It might make you feel better but it wouldn’t have led to a change in the outcome. Laws that make you feel better while accomplishing nothing are useless.

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