One article... which could have been wrong... said a projectile passed through the woman and then hit the man. So it was one shot.
If that's true, it had to be a live round. A bullet wedged in a barrel, like the Lee accident, wouldn't have enough energy to pass entirely through a person.
How a live round got into a gun on the set is the bigger question.
Baldwin wouldn't have to be pointing it intentionally at the cinematographer. She could have been standing to the side and he pulled the trigger while handling the gun.
However... this was a western so it had to be a revolver. Revolvers have LONG trigger pulls. You don't "accidentally" pull the trigger on a revolver. I think the trigger was deliberately pulled. Baldwin must have been playing around with the revolver.
Basic firearm safety says NEVER point the barrel of a gun at anything you don't want to destroy.
Lots of basic handgun safety rules had to be broken for this to happen.
- Check any gun you pick up to see if it is loaded.
- Treat all guns as if they are loaded.
- Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
- Never "paint" a person/object you don't want to shoot by sweeping the barrel around to point at them as you are handling the gun.
In my state, both Baldwin and the person who let the gun be on the set with a live round could be charged with a Class E felony... one to five years in prison. I doubt if that will happen. It will be interesting to see what the story is when it comes out. Maybe the guy who survived saw the whole thing?