‘I don’t hold Alec Baldwin responsible,’ says father of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office in Santa Fe, N.M., after he was questioned about a shooting on the set of the film "Rust" on the outskirts of Santa Fe, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza, officials said. (Jim Weber/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)AP

The father of Halyna Hutchins says he doesn’t blame actor Alec Baldwin for the fatal shooting of the cinematographer on the set of a movie filming in New Mexico.

Hutchins, 42, was killed by a prop gun fired by Baldwin while shooting the upcoming Western “Rust,” Santa Fe County Sheriff’s officials said Thursday. Hutchins’ father, Anatoly Androsovych, told The Sun that he blamed the film’s armory team that handed Baldwin the loaded weapon.

“We still can’t believe Halyna is dead and her mother is going out of her mind with grief,” Androsovych told the British publication on Sunday. “But I don’t hold Alec Baldwin responsible — it is the responsibility of the props people who handle the guns.”

Androsovych said he’s trying to organize visas for his wife Olga and daughter Svetlana to enter the U.S. to help Hutchins’ husband, Matthew, and a 9-year-old son, Andros.

The production had issues prior Hutchins’ death, according to The Associated Press. Seven crew members walked off the set hours before the shooting to protest working conditions and other concerns, including safety, one of those crew members said.

Court records show the gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or “armorer,” had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed. An assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon didn’t carry live rounds by yelling “cold gun.”

TMZ reports the gun was being used by crew members for target practice, allegedly with real bullets, away from the movie lot. Some who worked on the film believe that’s how a live round ended up in the Colt revolver that Baldwin used.

When Baldwin pulled the trigger, he unwittingly killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her inside a wooden, chapel-like building. Souza, 48, was hospitalized and released after treatment.

According to the AP, script supervisor Mamie Mitchell called 911 to report that two people were “accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun.”

Mitchell appeared to blame Halls, telling the dispatcher: “This (expletive) AD (assistant director) that yelled at me at lunch, asking about revisions.... He’s supposed to check the guns. He’s responsible for what happens on the set.”

Halyna Hutchins, Alec Baldwin

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, left, was killed by a prop gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin, right, on the set of the upcoming Western film "Rust" in New Mexico. (Getty Images file photos)

Baldwin called it a “tragic accident” in a statement Friday.

“There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I’m fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna,” Baldwin said.

No charges have been filed. An investigation is ongoing.

Production has been halted on the film, which was scheduled to shoot through November.

Hutchins, a Ukraine native who graduated from the American Film Institute in 2015, was working as director of photography on “Rust,” also starring Travis Fimmel and Jensen Ackles. She was previously the DP on the 2020 film “Archenemy,” starring Joe Manganiello, and named a “rising star” by American Cinematographer in 2019.

Baldwin is producing and starring in “Rust,” about a teen boy who goes on the run with his estranged grandfather (Baldwin) after he’s sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher. The 63-year-old actor has appeared in more than 140 movies and TV shows, including “30 Rock,” “Saturday Night Live,” “The Departed,” “Mission: Impossible” and “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

Baldwin is a frequent visitor to the Syracuse area; his mother Carol M. Baldwin lives in Camillus and has other family members living nearby, including his sister Beth and his brother, fellow actor Daniel Baldwin.

“Asking for your prayers tonight friends,” fellow acting brother Stephen Baldwin wrote on Instagram. “Not much can be said other than please pray for all involved in the wake of this tragic accident thank you.”

It’s not the first time a death has occurred on a Hollywood set. Actor Jon-Erik Hexum died in 1984 after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun blank while pretending to play Russian roulette on the set of the TV series “Cover Up,” and Brandon Lee, the 28-year-old son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, died in 1993 when he was hit with a .44-caliber bullet while filming a scene for “The Crow.”

“Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on ‘Rust.’ No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period,” Lee’s sister Shannon wrote on Twitter.

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