Eden Havel | Head editor
January 26, 2022
It was a Thursday afternoon on October 21, 2021, when actor Alec Baldwin was rehearsing a cowboy scene in an old church set. Baldwin was practicing a cross-fire motion where he was told to pull a gun from his holster and point it directly at the camera. Baldwin did as he was told, unknowing that this action would soon make history. A live round mistakenly discharged from the gun left director Joel Souza injured, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead, and Alec Baldwin in complete shock.
Now he has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
There has been much debate regarding who is to blame for this tragedy: some argue that the actor himself should have checked the gun before pointing it at someone. Others argue that whoever handed it to him was supposed to check, as it is not the actor’s job. But most argue that it is the fault of the professional hired to handle the movie’s weaponry. Nevertheless, all three have been charged and face trial in the coming days.
Alec Baldwin, a father of eight with a newborn baby stated in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, “I have been told by people in the know, even in the state, that it is highly unlikely that I would be charged criminally.” He continues to insist that he never once pulled the trigger.
David Halls and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed are two others being charged for the incident. Halls, the assistant director, agreed to plead to a misdemeanor charge of the negligent use of a deadly weapon, while Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, is on trial for involuntary manslaughter. Many have been quick to blame Hall or Gutierrez-Reed, and there is confusion regarding which of them called “cold gun” before the gun was used. While Hall says, “I have no recollection of me saying that, I have recollections of Hannah saying it,” Hannah says, “I don’t like the term ‘cold gun’. I know it got thrown around a lot on the set. That was mostly Dave’s terminology.”
Attorneys for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed stated, “Hannah is, and always has been, very emotional and sad about this tragic accident. But she did not commit involuntary manslaughter. These charges are a result of a very flawed investigation and an inaccurate understanding of the full facts. We intend to bring full truth to light and believe Hannah will be exonerated of wrongdoing by a jury.”
While charges are expected to be carried through by the end of the month by prosecutors, both charges for Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed could result in 18 months of jail time and a $5,000 fine. While this is a possible result, many experts doubt that Baldwin himself will actually be sent to jail. The same can’t be said, however, for Gutierrez-Reed, whose job it was to keep the set safe. Los Angeles-based personal attorney Miguel Custodio says, “She was the armorer, it was on her watch.”
“I feel so bad for him,” said senior Sierra Durlap. “In my opinion, it’s not the actor’s job at all to check the gun that he’s handed. There are multiple people responsible for making sure that the set the actor works on stays safe, and the fact that something went wrong wasn’t his fault!”
Until then, Alec and his family wait anxiously for the results of the unknown future. Most root for him and his case, and he has been incredibly flexible when it comes to speaking publicly about the events to ensure that Halyna Hutchins is remembered and that his side of the story is heard.
“She was my friend!” pleads Baldwin to reporters. Actor and comedian Leslie Jordan commented in a post to Baldwin, “Stay strong my friend. Thinking about you and all those effed [sic] by this terrible accident.”
“I hope that he isn’t charged,” said freshman Kayleigh Vigil. “It seems like it was an accident, everyone’s pointing fingers at everyone else. But at the end of the day, he was just doing his job, and out of nowhere something went wrong.”
Hutchin’s husband has been less public regarding the incident, but states, “I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame [to producers or Baldwin]. All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that all the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work.” Hutchins is survived by her husband Matthew and a son, Andros.
It’s hard time believe that anyone on the set of this movie would intentionally do something like this. I’m sure they have all been in this business for many years. There are producer writers actors and all the others needed to make a movie happen. I don’t think anyone set out that day for plans of something like this to happen. And I’m sure everyone on this set live’s have changed forever.it’s so hard for me to believe that Alex or anyone else would ever do something that would take a persons life. He’s one of the actors in the movie and it sounds like he was trying to do what he was hired to do. My question is who was in charge of the gun seen and the safety of how that would be carried out.