Last Friday, two members of the “Rust” film crew were shot. Alec Baldwin, an actor and producer of the film, shot what was believed to be a prop gun towards a camera killing director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and injuring director Joel Souza.
Since the incident, the Santa Fe county sheriff’s office has opened an investigation and provided more details surrounding the shooting. Baldwin, who plays an outlaw in the film, was demonstrating how he would draw his weapon for a scene set to be shot. The gun which was supposed to be filled with blanks discharged and hit the crew members mentioned above. Hutchins was hit in the mid section while Souza was hit in the shoulder. Hutchins was airlifted to a hospital in Albuquerque where she was later pronounced dead. Souza was taken to a hospital in Santa Fe and has since been released.
The gun was reportedly checked for live rounds earlier in the day and was announced to be cold, meaning there were no live rounds in the chamber. Reportedly the gun was not re-checked after the crew broke for lunch. It is unclear at this time how the rounds ended up in the chamber. This same gun had allegedly been misfired already in the shooting of “Rust” causing crew members to walk off of the set citing unsafe working conditions.
Since the shooting, Baldwin has been a hot topic on social media. Over the past five days search terms “Baldwin AND shooting” and “Rust AND shooting” have amassed nearly 250,000 mentions across social media channels reaching over 6.3 billion users. The conversation peaked on Friday with 82.4 thousand mentions but has remained steady with at least 28.6 thousand mentions a day through Tuesday. Nearly all of the posts, 93.7 percent, held negative sentiment. Amongst the negative posts, #AlecForPrison garnered almost 1,000 mentions.
A main source of conversation is people blaming Alec and the rest of the crew for not taking appropriate safety measures.
Alec Baldwin was not handed a prop gun he was handed a real gun with a live round, he didn't check
The gun did not misfire, it fired and was a negligent discharge
Baldwin did not intend to harm anyone, but as a producer and the person wielding the weapon it is 100% his fault
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) October 25, 2021
That gun didn’t fire itself. It took an idiot like Alec Baldwin to pull the trigger.
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) October 26, 2021
The conversation has also taking a politically charged turn as Donald Trump Jr. reportedly produced a t-shirt mocking the incident. And other users are finding ways to compare this situation to that of Kyle Rittenhouse who shot and killed two people at a protest against police brutality in Wisconsin on August 25, 2020.
An innocent person was killed, but anything for a buck.
Donald Trump Jr. sells T-shirts mocking Alec Baldwin's fatal shooting https://t.co/Mj2bA8gX65
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) October 25, 2021
Alec Baldwin was involved in an accident and told the gun wasn't loaded.
Kyle Rittenhouse illegally brought an assault rifle, was looking for trouble, and killed two people.
This comparison is so fucking silly that obviously, conservatives have gone all-in on it.
— Brian O'Sullivan (@osullivanauthor) October 26, 2021
The people defending Kyle Rittenhouse are the same ones Crucifying Alec Baldwin.
(These are bad people.)
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) October 27, 2021
The deceased victim, Hutchins, has not been mentioned nearly as much as Baldwin. During the same time frame, Hutchins has only been mentioned 35,000 times by name. The hashtag #RIPHalynaHutchins trended briefly with almost 3,000 mentions. Most mentions were deemed to hold negative sentiment, which makes sense considering Hutchins lost her life, but many of the posts were showing condolences and support for Hutchins’ family.
https://twitter.com/Wirjil/status/1451433521147375616
As the investigation continues to progress, no charges have been filed against Baldwin; however, charges may be looming for Baldwin and/or other members of the “Rust” cast.
Author: Jacob Luksik
