Authorities investigating inmate’s death at Albuquerque jail – Associated Press
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s officials said they were investigating the death of a jail inmate Monday night.
They said violent crimes detectives were called out to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque.
Sheriff’s officials didn’t immediately release the name, age or gender of the deceased inmate or release any additional details about the case.
They said an update will be provided when more information is available.
Grim milestone: Over 5,000 deaths in New Mexico from virus – Associated Press
New Mexico has reached the grim milestone of having more than 5,000 deaths from COVID-19, officials said Monday.
Most of those hospitalized with the virus were unvaccinated.
Ninety three percent of the 1,039 people who died in New Mexico from the virus from February to Oct. 11 weren’t vaccinated.
In all, the state has seen 271,212 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 5,002 deaths from the virus since the pandemic began.
Stars stunned by ‘mismanaged set’ in fatal prop-gun shooting – By Ryan Pearson And Gillian Flaccus Associated Press
As questions linger about safety protocols on the movie set where Alec Baldwin killed a cinematographer with a prop gun he’d been told was safe, Hollywood professionals say they’re baffled by the circumstances and production crews have quickly stepped up safety measures.
Jeffrey Wright, who has worked on projects including the James Bond franchise and the upcoming movie “The Batman,” was acting with a weapon on the set of “Westworld” when news broke of the shooting Thursday at a New Mexico ranch. “We were all pretty shocked. And it informed what we did from that moment on,” he said in an interview Sunday at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
“I don’t recall ever being handed a weapon that was not cleared in front of me — meaning chamber open, barrel shown to me, light flashed inside the barrel to make sure that it’s cleared,” Wright said. “Clearly, that was a mismanaged set.”
The shooting on the set of the film “Rust” killed 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her.
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, according to court records. Assistant director Dave Halls grabbed a gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating that the weapon was safe by yelling “cold gun,” court papers say. But it was loaded with live rounds, according to the records.
Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in “30 Rock” and “The Hunt for Red October” and his impression of former President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” has described the killing as a “tragic accident.”
“The Umbrella Academy” actor Justin Min, also at the Newport festival, said “it’s been a very somber time” in recent days on set as he’s been filming the indie thriller “Detained.”
“After that — I mean we have obviously already been careful, but it’s just another level of precaution,” Min said.
A prop maker and licensed pyrotechnician who worked with Halls, the assistant director, on another production said she had raised safety concerns about him in the past.
Maggie Goll said in a statement that she filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Hulu’s “Into the Dark” series in 2019 over concerns about Halls’ behavior on set. Goll said in a phone interview Sunday that Halls disregarded safety protocols for weapons and pyrotechnics and tried to continue filming after the supervising pyrotechnician lost consciousness on set.
Halls has not returned phone calls and email messages seeking comment. Rust Movie Productions has not answered repeated emails seeking comment.
The fatal shooting and previous experiences point to larger safety issues that need to be addressed, Goll said, adding that crew member safety and wellbeing are top issues in ongoing contract negotiations between a union that represents film and TV workers and a major producers’ group.
“This situation is not about Dave Halls. … It’s in no way one person’s fault,” she said. “It’s a bigger conversation about safety on set and what we are trying to achieve with that culture.”
A vigil for Hutchins was held Sunday in Southern California, where attendees exchanged tearful hugs and speakers echoed calls for heightened safety standards.
Actor Rosanna Arquette joined many in Hollywood in calling for a move away from using real weapons, whether armed with blanks or bullets.
“I hope this wakes people up. Because there should be no live round anything ever on a movie. We have enough CGI, we have enough — it’s absurd,” she said. “All of us are shaken to the core in the industry about this.”
Actor Ray Liotta agreed with Wright that the checks on firearms are usually extensive.
“They always — that I know of — they check it so you can see,” Liotta said. “They give it to the person you’re pointing the gun at, they do it to the producer, they show whoever is there that it doesn’t work.”
Baldwin, who is a producer on “Rust,” met with Hutchins’ husband and 9-year-old son Saturday at a hotel in Santa Fe where the actor had been staying during filming. Baldwin and Hutchins’ husband can be seen embracing in a photo published by the New York Post.
In fatal shooting, some political foes take aim at Baldwin – By Jake Coyle AP Film Writer
Details are still emerging about how Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set, but some political onlookers swiftly assigned guilt to one of Hollywood’s most prominent liberals.
Right-wing pundits and politicians have long chafed at Baldwin’s criticism of former President Donald Trump and his Trump parody on “Saturday Night Live.” They wasted little time zeroing in on the actor who pulled the trigger. The hashtag #AlecForPrison ricocheted around Twitter.
Within hours of the shooting, Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance asked Twitter to let Trump back on the social media platform that banned him after the Capitol insurrection. “We need Alec Baldwin tweets,” Vance wrote.
By Monday, Trump’s oldest son was selling $28 T-shirts on his official website with the slogan “Guns don’t kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people.” The post was later removed.
Gun violence has long divided the country, but the fact that some observers seemed to revel in Baldwin’s role in the shooting added a political dimension to the tragedy. CNN host Jake Tapper on Sunday called Hutchins’ death “heartbreaking for normal people.”
“But there’s something about our politics right now that is driving people away from our shared humanity,” Tapper said.
Court records provided some details about the death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Authorities have said that the assistant director, Dave Halls, handed the weapon to Baldwin and announced “cold gun,” indicating that the weapon was safe to use.
In an affidavit released Sunday night, the film’s director, Joel Souza, said Baldwin was rehearsing a scene in which he drew a revolver from his holster and pointed it toward the camera, which Hutchins and Souza were behind. Souza, who was wounded by the shot, said the scene did not call for the use of live rounds.
It’s not clear yet where the gun-handling protocol failed. Souza said the movie’s guns were usually checked by armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and then again by Halls.
At least two people have aired doubts about Halls’ safety record.
In an email statement to The Associated Press, a producer for the movie “Freedom’s Path” confirmed Monday that Halls was fired from the 2019 production after a crew member suffered a minor injury “when a gun was unexpectedly discharged.” The producer, who asked not to be identified by name, wrote that Halls “was removed from the set immediately.” Production did not resume until Halls was gone.
Prop maker Maggie Goll on Sunday said she filed an internal complaint in 2019 over concerns about Halls’ behavior on the set of Hulu’s “Into the Dark” series. Goll said Halls disregarded safety protocols for weapons and pyrotechnics and tried to continue filming after the supervising pyrotechnician, who was diabetic, lost consciousness on set.
Neither Gutierrez-Reed nor Halls have responded to requests for comment on the shooting.
In the affidavit, cameraman Reid Russell said Baldwin had been careful with weapons. Russell was unsure whether the weapon was checked before it was handed to Baldwin.
In the aftermath of Hutchins’ death, many in the film industry have argued that real guns should be replaced entirely by computer-generated effects.
“There should not have been a loaded gun on set,” actor Riley Keough wrote on Instagram. “We don’t need real guns, we can make replicas, and we have CGI. In my opinion, that is the issue here. Not Alec Baldwin.”
And yet, as director Gigi Saul Guerrero observed, Baldwin has been the “face to this tragic story.” The 63-year-old actor, a vocal advocate of gun-law reforms, has been widely mocked by the far-right on social media.
“Literally not one single thing that Alec Baldwin has said about Donald Trump and his supporters is going to age well,” tweeted conservative commentator Candace Owens.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, cited a tweet of Baldwin’s last year supporting Black Lives Matter protesters in which Baldwin said he was going to make T-shirts that read: “My hands are up. Please don’t shoot me!” Wrote Boebert: “Alec Baldwin, are these still available? Asking for a movie producer.”
Boebert received widespread criticism. Actor George Takei said Boebert had “no soul.” Actress Rosanna Arquette wrote: “This was a tragic and horrible accident. Ms. Boebart and you should be ashamed of yourself politicizing it.” But Boebert stood by her tweet.
“You crazy Blue Checks want to take away our right to defend ourselves with a firearm, and know NOTHING about basic gun safety!” Boebert wrote. “If this was a conservative celebrity you’d be calling for his head.”
The film’s chief electrician, Serge Svetnoy, blamed producers for Hutchins’ death in an emotional Facebook post Sunday. Svetnoy faulted “negligence and unprofessionalism” among those handling weapons on the set, and claimed producers hired an inexperienced armorer.
“I’m sure that we had the professionals in every department, but one — the department that was responsible for the weapons,” Svetnoy wrote. “The person who should have checked this weapon before bringing it to the set did not do it. And the DEATH OF THE HUMAN IS THE RESULT!”
A spokesman for the film’s production company, Rust Movie Productions LLC, has said it is cooperating with authorities and conducting an internal review. The company said it was halting production on the film but signaled it may resume in the future.
Baldwin has said he is cooperating with the law enforcement investigation and described the shooting as a “tragic accident.”
Assistant director of Baldwin film fired after 2019 mishap – By Morgan Lee, Cedar Attanasio And Hillel Italie Associated Press
The assistant director who handed Alec Baldwin the gun that killed a cinematographer last week had been fired from a previous job after a gun went off on a set and wounded a member of the film crew, a producer said Monday.
The disclosure emerged as producers of Baldwin’s movie officially halted filming, and court records showed that investigators seized more than two dozen items from the set on the day after the shooting.
In an email statement to The Associated Press, a producer for the movie “Freedom’s Path” confirmed that Dave Halls was fired from the 2019 production after a crew member suffered a minor injury “when a gun was unexpectedly discharged.” The producer, who asked not to be identified by name, wrote that Halls “was removed from the set immediately.” Production did not resume until Halls was gone.
His firing from “Freedom’s Path” was first reported by CNN. Halls has not returned phone calls and email messages seeking comment.
The producer is the second person to air doubts about Halls’ safety record. On Sunday, another crew member who worked with Halls said she raised concerns about him in 2019.
Maggie Goll, a prop maker and licensed pyrotechnician, said in a statement that she filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Hulu’s “Into the Dark” series over Halls’ behavior. Goll said in a phone interview that Halls disregarded safety protocols for weapons and pyrotechnics and tried to continue filming after the supervising pyrotechnician, who was diabetic, lost consciousness on set.
The fatal shooting and previous experiences point to larger safety issues, Goll said, adding that crew safety was a top issue in recent contract negotiations between a union that represents film and TV workers and a major producers’ group.
“This situation is not about Dave Halls. … It’s in no way one person’s fault,” she said. “It’s a bigger conversation about safety on set and what we are trying to achieve with that culture.”
In an email sent to “Rust” crew members over the weekend, the movie’s production team confirmed that work on the Western has been suspended at least until the investigation is complete. The team said it is working with law enforcement and conducting its own internal safety review. The production company is also offering grief counseling.
The email suggested that work on the film could resume at some point.
“Although our hearts are broken, and it is hard to see beyond the horizon, this is, at the moment, a pause rather than an end,” the email read.
The sheriff’s investigation continued Monday, and new court documents showed that authorities seized three black revolvers, ammunition boxes, a fanny pack with ammunition, several spent casings, two leather gun belts with holsters, articles of clothing and swabs of what were believed to be blood.
No charges have been filed. Prosecutors and law enforcement officers were expected to provide an update on the investigation Wednesday.
Moments before the shooting, Baldwin was explaining how he was going to draw the revolver from his holster and where his arm would be positioned, court records show.
The actor had been told that the gun was safe to use for the rehearsal of a scene in which he was supposed to pull out the weapon while sitting in a church pew and point it at the camera, the records said.
Cameraman Reid Russell told a detective that he was unsure whether the weapon was checked before it was handed to Baldwin, and he did not know why the gun was fired.
The camera was not rolling when the gun went off and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, Russell told authorities, according a search warrant affidavit released Sunday.
Authorities have said that Halls had handed the weapon to Baldwin and announced “cold gun,” indicating it was safe.
When asked about how Baldwin treated firearms on the set, Russell said the actor was safe, citing a previous instance when Baldwin made sure a child actor was not near him when a gun was being discharged.
The affidavit released Sunday also included statements by director Joel Souza, who was standing behind Hutchins and was wounded.
It detailed the moments before the shooting and showed that there was turmoil on the set the day of the shooting. Several members of the camera crew walked off the production in a dispute over payment and lodging, Russell said, and he was left with a lot of work to do. Only one camera was available to shoot, and it had to be moved because the light had shifted and there was a shadow.
Souza said he was focused on how the scene would appear on camera. He said he recalled hearing the phrase “cold gun” before the shooting, the affidavit said.
He said the scene did not call for the use of live rounds. After a lunch break, Souza said he was not sure if the firearm had been checked again. Souza was looking over Hutchins’ shoulder when he heard the gunshot, according to the affidavit.
The film’s chief electrician, Serge Svetnoy, blamed producers for Hutchins’ death in an emotional Facebook post on Sunday. Svetnoy said he had worked with Hutchins on multiple films and faulted “negligence and unprofessionalism” among those handling weapons on the set. He said producers hired an inexperienced armorer.
Baldwin, who is known for his roles in “30 Rock” and “The Hunt for Red October” and his impression of former President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” has described the killing as a “tragic accident.”
Navajo Nation: No COVID-19 deaths for 18th time in 26 days – Associated Press
The Navajo Nation on Monday reported 37 more COVID-19 cases, but no coronavirus-related deaths for the 18th time in the past 26 days.
The latest numbers pushed the tribe’s totals to 36,161 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the virus since the pandemic began more than a year ago.
The known death toll is at 1,474.
Tribal health officials had reported 24 new cases and two deaths on Sunday.
Based on cases from Oct. 8-21, the Navajo Department of Health issued an advisory notice for 48 communities due to uncontrolled spread of COVID-19.
Tribal officials still are urging people to get vaccinated, wear masks while in public and minimize their travel.
All Navajo Nation executive branch employees had to be fully vaccinated against the virus by the end of September or submit to regular testing.
“We know how to reduce and even stop the spread of COVID-19, but it takes all of us making the right choices for ourselves and others each and every day,” tribal President Jonathan Nez said in a statement Monday.
The tribe’s reservation is the country’s largest at 27,000 square miles and covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
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