The Alec Baldwin Incident                                                                                      March 3rd 2023

Written by Jacob Patterson

The Alec Baldwin case, aka The Rust shooting has been a discussion for a while. It has been debated by multiple people, arguing whether Alec Baldwin is innocent or not, and if the shooting was his fault. The incident started when the Armorer of the Rust set managed to allow live ammunition to be put in the revolver that Alec Baldwin used for the movie, because she somehow loaded real ammunition into the gun instead of blanks when preparing the gun for Alec Baldwin. Alec Baldwin was practicing a scene that involved cross drawing his gun. The gun went off, and shot Haylana Hutchins in the chest and Joel Souza in the shoulder. They were both airlifted to a hospital, where Ms. Hutchins died. Mr. Souza was released later with a fractured arm. Alec Baldwin stated that he used a Colt .45 Single Action Revolver during the incident, which he said in an interview with Good Morning America, accidently went off without him doing anything. It is probable that he had his finger on the trigger when cocking the gun though, that could have led to the hammer falling, as can happen with this type of gun. Another incident similar to this happened in 2003, when filming a movie called “Revenge of The Scorpion”. An extra named Antonio Velasco was shot 2 times by a .38 Caliber handgun, and died on the scene. The armorer whose full name was not known fled the scene when questioned by police in the filming of Revenge of The Scorpion.

Alec’s original court date was set to February 24th, but he skipped that court date because he believed that he was innocent. His new trial has yet to get a date. His lawyer will also be the same lawyer that represented Harvey Weinstein, the 70 year old former film producer and sex offender who received 16 years in prison in late February. Alec Baldwin could be charged with involuntary manslaughter and will face up to 5 years in prison if convicted, and will not be allowed to own a firearm in the meantime. 

Alec Baldwin could have easily avoided this fate though, by being more responsible with firearms, and checking his gun after every take. The armorer could also have been more responsible, by checking all of her ammunition, and making sure that no live rounds are on set. Firearm safety on set could have also hindered this event from happening.

More Information:

https://www.nytimes.com/article/alec-baldwin-shooting-investigation.html(1)