In 2021, on-set actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot an employee on set. This employee was cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, and she was sadly killed in the incident. Alec Baldwin, who was the lead in this film, also incidentally wounded the director, Joel Souza.
Are there protocols in place to prevent similar incidents from happening? Are there real weapons actually used on set? If you aren’t super familiar with cinemas and how movies work, usually there is a weapon supervisor who is hired to ensure safety on set. Unfortunately, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed allegedly failed to provide safety on the set of this film, and ultimately, this led to the fatal shooting on set.
You may also have some concerns or questions about the actor who actually shot the weapon and what came from his role in this offense. The truth is, Baldwin, who was also the co-producer of the film, actually went on trial for this offense as well. He pleaded not guilty to the charge of manslaughter and is scheduled for trial this coming July in Santa Fe. If this case interests you, you should definitely follow along to see what occurs in his upcoming trial.
Now, what happened during Gutierrez-Reed’s trial? She was ultimately sentenced to eighteen months in prison, even though she had requested probation instead of incarceration. “You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon.” This is a quote taken from a trial spoken by the judge in this case. Her name is Mary Marlowe Summer, and she is a judge based in New Mexico. This quote speaks volumes about this case. There are protocols placed to ensure that filming is a safe place, and the fact that someone lost their lives in a way that was unbelievably avoidable means that there needs to be justice for the victims and everyone who was on the other side of this case and went to work thinking they would be protected, not in harm’s way.
Not many people think twice about weapons on set during films, hopefully through this tragedy people will learn from Gutierrez-Reed’s mistakes and this does not ever occur again. These are people’s lives at risk, and this man will not be able to go home to his wife and children ever again, so people truly must think about their actions and be more thorough when involving any item that can possibly harm others. This case was so popular, although it happened in 2021. People around the nation have been waiting for the day that there has been justice for the family of the victim, and hopefully justice will continue to be placed upon those who are at fault.