Alec Baldwin film director ‘gutted’ by death of cinematographer in prop gun shooting

Published

4 years ago

October 23, 2021

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A director who was injured when Alec Baldwin fatally shot a crew member with a prop gun says he is “gutted” by her death.

Joel Souza was shot in the shoulder on a film set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and taken to hospital. He has since been discharged.

Standing in front of him when Baldwin fired the gun was cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was struck in the chest and died on the set of the low budget Western movie Rust.

Moments before the shooting, Baldwin was handed the loaded prop gun by an assistant director who indicated it was safe to use, according to court documents.

Souza says he is “gutted by the loss of my friend and colleague Halyna”.

“She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better,” Souza said in a statement.

“My thoughts are with her family at this most difficult time. I am humbled and grateful by the outpouring of affection we have received from our filmmaking community, the people of Santa Fe, and the hundreds of strangers who have reached out….. It will surely aid in my recovery”.

Souza did not give details of the accident or his injuries in the statement.

The cinematographer’s widower Matt Hutchins had earlier paid tribute on Twitter, writing: “Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words. Our loss is enormous.”

The tributes come as reports suggest crew members were concerned about gun safety on the set before the fatal shooting.

Two crew members told the Los Angeles Times a weapon had been unintentionally fired twice in the days before the 42-year-old cinematographer’s death.

They told the paper Baldwin’s stunt double had been reassured the prop firearm wasn’t loaded, including with blanks, before he fired the two rounds last Saturday.

Multiple reports suggests that half a dozen camera crew workers had walked off set in protest against working conditions hours before Hutchins was shot dead on Thursday.

“We cited everything from lack of payment for three weeks, taking our hotels away despite asking for them in our deals, lack of COVID safety, and on top of that, poor gun safety! Poor on-set safety period!” one camera crew member wrote on a private Facebook page, according to Hollywood publication Deadline.com

Rust Movie Productions said in a statement on Friday it was investigating the claims.

The company said: “Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down.”

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the head armourer who handled weapons on set, reportedly said on a podcast last month how she didn’t feel ready for the role when she took up the position on a previous movie.

Her work on Rust is said to have only been the second time she had been head armourer.

Ms Gutierrez-Reed is also said to have admitted she found loading blanks into a gun “the scariest” thing and had sought help from her father, the renowned gunsmith Thell Reed, to overcome her fear.

On Friday, a Santa Fe judge approved a warrant for the sheriff’s office to seize firearms, clothing, cameras, video tapes and ammunition from the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, where the movie was being filmed.

The weapon that was fired was among the items taken as evidence, along with Baldwin’s blood-stained costume for the film.

Security guards were posted at the road leading to the ranch on Saturday.

According to an affidavit filed by a sheriff’s office detective, Baldwin was handed what he believed was a safe or “cold” prop gun during a rehearsal on Thursday, but it contained live rounds when it was fired.

No charges have been filed in the case.

Baldwin said he was devastated by the shooting in a tweet on 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,” he wrote.

“I’m fully co-operating 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.”

The International Cinematographers Guild is due to hold a candlelight vigil for Hutchins on Saturday evening in Albuquerque, about 40 miles (64 km) from the ranch where the film set was based.

A second vigil has been scheduled for Sunday in the Los Angeles area.

US

Trump seeking to ‘manufacture a crisis’ in Chicago, says Illinois governor

Published

4 hours ago

August 24, 2025

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Trump seeking to 'manufacture a crisis' in Chicago, says Illinois governor

The governor of Illinois has accused Donald Trump of “attempting to manufacture a crisis” over reports the US president was considering deploying the military in the state.

US newspaper The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the Pentagon was drafting plans to deploy the US army in Chicago, the state capital.

It comes as part of Mr Trump’s crackdown on crime, homelessness, and illegal immigration in mainly Democrat-run cities. He recently deployed the National Guard in Washington DC.

In a statement responding to the report, governor JB Pritzker said Illinois had “received no requests or outreach from the federal government asking if we need assistance, and we have made no requests for federal intervention”.

He added: “The safety of the people of Illinois is always my top priority.

“There is no emergency that warrants the President of the United States federalising the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard from other states, or sending active duty military within our own borders.”

The governor then said: “Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicise Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families.

“We will continue to follow the law, stand up for the sovereignty of our state, and protect the people of Illinois.”

Officials familiar with the proposals told the Post that several options were being weighed up by the US defence department, including mobilising thousands of National Guard troops in Chicago as early as September.

The Pentagon said it would not comment on planned operations, adding: “The department is a planning organisation and is continuously working with other agency partners on plans to protect federal assets and personnel.”

Mr Trump, however, told reporters on Friday that “Chicago is a mess,” before attacking the city’s mayor Brandon Johnson and hinting “we’ll straighten that one out probably next”.

Mr Johnson has not yet commented on Saturday’s reports, but said on Friday that the president’s approach to tackling crime has been “uncoordinated, uncalled for and unsound”.

“There are many things the federal government could do to help us reduce crime and violence in Chicago, but sending in the military is not one of them,” he added.

It comes after around 800 National Guard troops were deployed in Washington DC earlier this month, despite the US capital’s mayor revealing crime in the capital was at its “lowest level in 30 years”.

According to preliminary figures from Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police, violent crime is down 26% in 2025 – after dropping 35% in 2024 compared with 2023.

In June Mr Trump ordered 700 US Army marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in California, during protests over mass immigration raids.

The deployment came against the wishes of state governor Gavin Newsom, who said: “The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate.

“That is not the way any civilised country behaves.”

US

Ghislaine Maxwell was given ‘platform to rewrite history’, say Virginia Giuffre’s family

Published

7 hours ago

August 24, 2025

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Ghislaine Maxwell was given 'platform to rewrite history', say Virginia Giuffre's family

The family of Virginia Giuffre, who was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent sex trafficking accusers, have said they are “outraged” over the US Department of Justice’s release of an interview with Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maxwell – a convicted sex trafficker and ex-girlfriend of the deceased paedophile financier Epstein – refuted several claims of child sex trafficking and abuse during the two-day-long interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July.

Reacting after the transcripts of the interview were released on Friday, Ms Giuffre’s family said it gave Maxwell the “platform to rewrite history” and showed she was “never challenged about her court-proven lies”.

“As the family of one of the most prominent survivors, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, we are outraged,” they said in a statement.

“The content of these transcripts is in direct contradiction with felon Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction for child sex trafficking.”

Ms Giuffre’s family added: “This travesty of justice entirely invalidates the experiences of the many brave survivors who put their safety, security, and lives on the line to ensure her conviction, including our sister.”

Referencing Maxwell’s move to a minimum-security facility in Texas earlier this month, they said it “sends a disturbing message that child sex trafficking is acceptable and will be rewarded”.

“We continue to call upon the DOJ (Department of Justice) to do its job by investigating and holding accountable the many rich and powerful people who enabled Ghislaine Maxwell’s and Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes,” they concluded.

Ms Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, had previously claimed that Maxwell introduced her to Epstein and hired her as his masseuse, before she was sex trafficked and sexually abused by him and associates around the world.

She sued Prince Andrew for sexual abuse in August 2021 – saying he had sex with her when she was 17 and had been trafficked by Epstein.

The duke has repeatedly denied the claims, and he has not been charged with any criminal offences.

In March 2022, it was announced Ms Giuffre and Andrew had reached an out-of-court settlement – believed to include a “substantial donation to Ms Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights”.

During her interview with Mr Blanche last month, Maxwell said Ms Giuffre’s allegation against the duke “doesn’t hold water”, and denied ever introducing Epstein to him or Sarah Ferguson.

She insisted Epstein and Andrew met separately, and said “I think Sarah [Ferguson] is the one that pushed that”, before saying that allegations Andrew had sex with Ms Giuffre were untrue, as she was at her mother’s 80th birthday celebrations in the countryside outside the city.

Maxwell then claimed Ms Giuffre’s allegation that she and Andrew had sexual contact in the bathroom of her London flat was not true, as the room was not big enough.

She also claimed that an image of her standing alongside Andrew with his arm around Ms Giuffre’s waist was “literally a fake photo”.

During the interview with Mr Blanche, Maxwell denied ever seeing US President Donald Trump in an “inappropriate setting” and insisted she was not aware of any Epstein ‘client list’.

Under growing pressure to release files related to Epstein, as he promised to do during his 2024 presidential campaign, Mr Trump has made a series of denials and claims about the paedophile financier.

In July, the president told reporters on Air Force One that Epstein “stole” Ms Giuffre and other young women from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Mr Trump has also floated a pardon for Maxwell, saying earlier this month that “nobody” had asked to but insisted that he has “the right to do it”.

“I’m allowed to do it, but nobody’s asked me to do it. I know nothing about it,” he added. “I don’t know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it.

“I have the right to give pardons, I’ve given pardons to people before, but nobody’s even asked me to do it.”

Maxwell was sentenced in the US in June 2022 to 20 years in prison following her conviction on five counts of sex trafficking for luring young girls to massage rooms for Epstein to abuse. She has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.

Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

His case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories due to his and Maxwell’s links to famous people like royals, presidents and billionaires, including Mr Trump.

No one other than Epstein and Maxwell has been charged with any criminal offences.

US

Names released of five killed in Niagara Falls tour bus crash

Published

7 hours ago

August 24, 2025

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Names released of five killed in Niagara Falls tour bus crash

The five people who died after a tour bus returning to New York City from Niagara Falls crashed have been named.

The bus, with 54 passengers on board, crashed and rolled on Interstate 90 near Pembroke, about 30 miles (48km) east of Buffalo, New York, at around 12.30pm (5.30pm UK time) on Friday.

In an update on Saturday, New York State Police said that those who died were identified as:
• Shankar Kumar Jha, 65, of Madhu Bani, India;
• Pinki Changrani, 60, of East Brunswick, New Jersey;
• Zhang Xiaolan, 55 of Jersey City, New Jersey;
• Jian Mingli, 56, of Jersey City;
• Xie Hongzhuo, a 22-year-old student at Columbia University, from Beijing, China.

After the student was named, Columbia University said in a statement that the faculty was “devastated”.

“This heartbreaking loss is felt deeply across our community,” it added. “We are in close contact with her family and offering them our full support.

“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with her family, friends, and all who have been touched by this tragedy.”

Erie County Medical Center, where 21 passengers were hospitalised for injuries, said that as of Saturday afternoon, 14 patients are in stable condition but remain at the hospital.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash, which did not involve any other vehicles. The driver had not been charged in connection with the incident as of Friday.

State police major Andre Ray said in a news conference that the driver had become distracted, lost control and overcorrected before the bus went into the right shoulder and flipped over.

“An absolute tragedy took place,” he added. “And first and foremost, our thoughts, prayers and hearts go out to those involved, their friends and their families.”

Mr Ray added that a preliminary investigation had ruled out mechanical failure or driver impairment, and that the driver survived the crash and was cooperating with police.