Alec Baldwin Shoots Two, Kills One On Movie Set

Above, actor Alec Baldwin.

Shades of Brandon Lee!

Yahoo! News reported:

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities are investigating after confirming that a prop firearm discharged by actor Alec Baldwin, while producing and starring in a Western movie, killed the cinematographer and wounded the director.

Santa Fe County Sheriff’s officials said Halyna Hutchins, cinematographer on the movie “Rust,” and director Joel Souza were shot Thursday on the rustic film set in the desert on the southern outskirts of Santa Fe.

Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead by medical personnel, the sheriff's department said.

How in hell does one shoot the director and the cinematographer on a set with a gun loaded with blanks unless at very close range and fooling around? I can see one person getting accidentally killed or wounded, but two? I can't imagine any other scenario for this. It will be interesting to see what the investigation uncovers of the circumstances of this tragedy. 

To read more, go here.

Also from Yahoo! News:

The term “blank’ is a shorthand version of the full term, blank cartridge. Notice I said cartridge and not bullet. A cartridge is a unit of ammunition fed into the barrel of a gun comprised of several parts: The casing (sometimes called a shell); propellant material (gunpowder) inside the shell; a primer on the bottom of the cartridge; and at the tip of the cartridge, the actual projectile (bullet) itself.

When you pull the trigger, the firing pin strikes the primer, igniting the gunpowder, causing an explosion of superhot gasses that propels the bullet out of the barrel. The shell casing is then expelled from the gun as a new cartridge is loaded into the chamber,

A blank is a cartridge that has all of that except for the projectile at the tip. Instead the tip is crimped or otherwise sealed with paper wadding or wax to hold in the gunpowder. Which means, theoretically, when you pull the trigger, you’ll get the bang, recoil, muzzle flash, and an ejected shell, without the deadly supersonic bullet ending whatever you pointed the gun at.

But, remember when we mentioned muzzle flash and superheated gas? That is still very much being expelled from the gun. And bullet or no bullet, that means anything near the end of that barrel is in danger.

 To read more, go here.