Veteran US actor Alec Baldwin was allowed to leave the Santa Fe police department after he’d handed himself over for the fatal shooting of a crew member.
Why has Alec Baldwin been released?
As reported by BBC. Santa Fe sheriff deputies responded to distress calls coming from Bonanza Creek Ranch, in New Mexico, where Baldwin and his crew were on set filming a 19th Century western film titled Rust.
Upon arrival, authorities were informed that Baldwin had discharged a prop gun and critically harmed two of his crew members, photography director Halyna Hutchins and director Joel Souza.
Both victims were rushed to a nearby hospital but, unfortunately, nothing could be done to save Hutchins. The 42-year-old photography director was pronounced dead-on-arrival.
Souza, is still believed to be fighting for his life. Not updates have been released on his current condition.
A spokesperson of the Santa Fe police department told AFP that Baldwin, who is starring in and co-producing the western film, “came in voluntarily and he left the building after he finished his interviews.”
At this time, it remains unclear if the 63-year-old stands to be charged with the death and serious injury of his crew members. Moreover, Santa Fe police have yet to issue a statement providing more insight into their decision of allowing Baldwin to leave.
Is it possible to die from a prop gun?
All that is known, at this stage, is that Baldwin fired a prop gun and two people were seriously wounded. Crucial factors like the direction in which the prop gun was pointed and how two victims ended up fighting for their lives from a rare accident of this nature are still missing pieces to this bewildering puzzle.
More confusing, is how a prop gun was used to cause fatal harm. What’s not commonly known about prop guns is that they aren’t necessarily toys, especially on modern day Hollywood film sets where extreme efforts are made to depict reality.
A real gun can still be a prop if it is not loaded with live ammunition. Usually, according to The Wrap, filmmakers make use of blanks to produce the effect of gunfire without the necessary dangers of an actual bullet with a projectile.
A blank, in essence, contains all the properties of a bullet, without the projectile. A prop gun loaded with blanks will still give off the bang, recoil and muzzle flash, when fired. It just won’t produce the harm caused by a projectile.
In Baldwin’s case, a lot of information is still missing. Was the gun loaded with live ammunition? How far apart was the actor from the two victims? And, perhaps, most important, where was the prop gun expert before the incident?
Baldwin had not released a statement at the time this article was published.
