ALEC BALDWIN: I HAVE NO WORDS

Gun safety is under the spotlight after the star accidentally killed a colleague on a movie set

- DENNIS CAVERNELIS

IT WAS all going so well – there was no shortage of work and the drama of his personal life had faded into the distance. But in an instant Alec Baldwin’s world caved in.

The tragedy that occurred on the set of his new movie, Rust, has stunned the globe and forced the movie industry to re-examine gun safety. There have also been damning claims that the correct procedures weren’t followed on the Rust set, that corners were cut and regulations ignored.

For the veteran 63-year-old actor it was devastating.

Alec was rehearsing a scene on the set of the western, which is about a 13-year-old boy who goes on the run with his estranged grandfather (Alec) after he accidentally kills a rancher.

The star aimed the prop gun – which he’d been told didn’t contain live rounds – at the camera and squeezed the trigger. There was a sound “like a whip and then loud pop”, the film’s director, Joel Souza (48), recounted.

He saw the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins (42), who’d been holding the camera, grab her chest and stumble backwards. Then Joel, who’d been standing behind her, noticed his shoulder was bleeding. It’s believed the projectile went through Halyna’s body and then struck the director.

“Joel had blood on his person and Halyna was saying she couldn’t feel her legs,” cameraman Reid Russell told detectives.

Halyna was airlifted to hospital but didn’t make it. Joel was treated and later discharged.