A Brief History
On October 21, 2021, film actor Alec Baldwin fired a single shot from a movie prop pistol on the set of Rust, a movie being filmed at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico. Sadly, Halyna Hutchins, a Ukrainian cinematographer involved in the film, was struck and killed by the bullet fired by Baldwin.
Digging Deeper
The tragic incident appeared to have been an accident, although at this time we still are not sure how a live round ended up in a prop gun that should only have blank rounds either in the pistol or on the set.
Baldwin and the set armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, that had handed Baldwin the loaded gun, were charged with manslaughter. First assistant director David Halls was allowed to plead guilty to “negligent use of a deadly weapon.” Charges against Baldwin were later dropped, but Gutierrez-Reed still faces charges, including a charge of tampering with evidence. Multiple lawsuits are pending.
Question for students (and subscribers): Who is most at fault for the shooting? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Baldwin, Alec. Nevertheless: A Memoir. Harper Audio, 2017.
Carlson, Jay. HALYNA HUTCHINS DEATH: The Untold Truth behind the shot of Halyna Hutchins on Rust Movie. Kindle, 2023.
The featured image in this article, the title page for the screenplay of Joel Souza’s Rust, as seen in Alec Baldwin’s ABC interview, is ineligible for copyright and therefore is in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.