Three former members of Alec Baldwin's film crew have revealed there were at least two accidental gun discharges on the set prior to the film star fatally shooting the cinematographer.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured when a prop gun Alec Baldwin was holding misfired, according to authorities.
The accident happened on the set of the independent Western film Rust, which is being produced in New Mexico.
A spokesperson from the production told The Hollywood Reporter the prop gun was supposed to be loaded with blanks.
Now reports have emerged two accidental gun discharges occurred prior to the fatal shooting.
According to the New York Times, the discharges happened on October 16, which led to a complaint to a supervisor about safety practices on the set.
Baldwin's stunt double accidentally fired two rounds after being told that the gun was "cold", meaning the weapon didn't have any ammunition, including blanks according to two crew members who witnessed the episode told the LA Times.
The crew members were among the half-dozen camera crew workers and a cinematographer who walked off the set to protest working conditions and unpaid work just hours before the fatal shooting.
"There should have been an investigation into what happened," a crew member said about the two prop-gun discharges, according to the LA Times. "There were no safety meetings. There was no assurance that it wouldn't happen again.
"All they wanted to do was rush, rush, rush."
According to an affidavit signed by Det Joel Cano of the Santa Fe County sheriff's office, Baldwin was told by an assistant director who handed him the firearm that it was an unloaded gun.
A crew worker on the set was so concerned by the prop gun misfires that he sent a text message to the unit production manager.
"We've now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe."
Actor Larry Zanoff told the New York Times the normal procedure when a firearm went off on a film set is for there to be an immediate inquiry into whether the gun was defective or was mishandled.
If the determination was that it was mishandled would undergo a reinforcement of safety protocols and possibly disallow the handler from using firearms.
It is also being reported that Safety protocols, which are standard in the industry, including gun inspections, were not strictly followed on the Rust set.
