Alec Baldwin accidentally shoots woman dead on set

Jalapeno

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59005500

Tragic for family, but also grim for Alec too ...

joneve

Absolutely horrendous all round.

jonnyburgo

That's terrible news for all involved. 

Kittyfrisk

Yes, very tragic. She was a director of photography & the man was the director.
It'll be a while until any facts emerge, but the current explanation that a prop gun loaded with blanks misfired, sounds peculiar.

octatonic

Fucking hell.
Even though it is an accident that must be a hell of a weight to have to carry around.

VimFuego

Obviously we don't know any of the specifics of this case, but I've always wondered about the blank firing weapons they use on films etc. In the military on exercise they fit something called a blank firing attachment to rifles (they're those big yellow things you see sometimes), which basically plugs the barrel so it creates enough back pressure to mimic a bullet and allows the reload mechanism to cycle. However, they still allow some of the gasses and crud to come out of the barrel, which can be dangerous (will shred paper at 10 yards kind of thing), which is why you're told not to point the weapon at someone at close range. However, in films they don't seem to have that restriction.

fretmeister

I remember when the same thing happened to Brandon Lee on "The Crow" - terrible accident.

Baldwin has been quite open about depression and suicidal thoughts - I really hope he's being looked after.

sinbaadi

Alec Baldwin might be a firearms expert, I don't know, he is an American so he could well be.  Blanks or not that weapon should be treated like a live weapon with real ammunition, and the fact that this happened is evidence enough that there was gross negligence.  
Alec might only be partly culpable, there would be a firearms expert on site, probably a team of, and they have failed to control the use of this weapon.

Such a stupid accident, no matter what the particulars are.

Switch625

Hopefully this incident will change things over there and not allow blanks to be used any more. Is it really necessary with modern technology? Hope Alec gets the help he needs to overcome this. Living with the thought of somebody's death on your head is a terrible thing.

joeyowen

Switch625 said:

Hopefully this incident will change things over there and not allow blanks to be used any more. Is it really necessary with modern technology? Hope Alec gets the help he needs to overcome this. Living with the thought of somebody's death on your head is a terrible thing.

Agreed.  Then can literally cgi anything into a movie with scarily good results. 

fretmeister

sinbaadi said:

Alec Baldwin might be a firearms expert, I don't know, he is an American so he could well be.  Blanks or not that weapon should be treated like a live weapon with real ammunition, and the fact that this happened is evidence enough that there was gross negligence.  
Alec might only be partly culpable, there would be a firearms expert on site, probably a team of, and they have failed to control the use of this weapon.

Such a stupid accident, no matter what the particulars are.

He's likely to be not culpable at all.

There will be a full investigation and it is possible that the firearms experts and the production company are liable, but AB will have relied on those experts and followed instructions as to how to use the weapon, where to point it for the purpose of getting the scene filmed etc etc.

Speculation about facts and the reactions of authorities in an entirely different jurisdiction don't help.

boogieman

I don’t understand how it could’ve happened with blanks, although it sounds like they can still be nasty from what people have said ^. As my missus said earlier, his acting career is probably wrecked now, let alone his mental health. 

Mellish

I agree with @sinbaadi what were live bullets in it for? If they were necessary, someone should have been in charge of safety. How tragic, though, a terrible thing to happen

VimFuego

Mellish said:

I agree with @sinbaadi what were live bullets in it for? If they were necessary, someone should have been in charge of safety. How tragic, though, a terrible thing to happen

no one has said there were live rounds in it. We don't know anything yet.

fretmeister

Mellish said:

I agree with @sinbaadi what were live bullets in it for? If they were necessary, someone should have been in charge of safety. How tragic, though, a terrible thing to happen

The reports say blanks.

Blanks can still kill.

Mellish

Oh sorry, the idiot in me didn't read the report. Schoolboy error! 

Keiko

Here's a crazy idea. Lets stop glamorising guns and killing people altogether.

Philly_Q

There was a film industry "armourer" on the radio this morning who said it should be absolutely impossible for this to happen with "movie blanks", which are apparently different from the type of blanks you or I might buy (if we had any reason to buy blanks).  He said the worst that might happen, with old Western-style rifles or pistols, would be a powder burn.  All very strange, and tragic.

VimFuego

Keiko said:

Here's a crazy idea. Lets stop glamorising guns and killing people altogether.

is that what the film was doing?

LastMantra

Philly_Q said:

There was a film industry "armourer" on the radio this morning who said it should be absolutely impossible for this to happen with "movie blanks", which are apparently different from the type of blanks you or I might buy (if we had any reason to buy blanks).  He said the worst that might happen, with old Western-style rifles or pistols, would be a powder burn.  All very strange, and tragic.

And, as has been said, it's happened before. Strange. 

Very sad for all evolved though. 

Offset

Philly_Q said:

There was a film industry "armourer" on the radio this morning who said it should be absolutely impossible for this to happen with "movie blanks", which are apparently different from the type of blanks you or I might buy (if we had any reason to buy blanks).  He said the worst that might happen, with old Western-style rifles or pistols, would be a powder burn.  All very strange, and tragic.

It ain't necessarily so.  From the BBC's website re. Brandon Lee's death in similar circumstances:

"It was later determined that the gun used had earlier fired a round that caused a cartridge to become lodged in the barrel. When blank rounds were later fired, the cartridge was dislodged and released."