Morgan Park’s Aaron Warren (0) cheers with his team after beating Simeon earlier this season. | Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

Twenty-four Public League teams qualified for the state football playoffs on Saturday.

The pandemic was brutally hard on Public League football. Chicago Public Schools didn’t allow coaches to have contact days with their teams last year, which set many programs behind. Suburban and private schools had three months worth of practices. Then many Public League teams decided not to play in the spring season.

That definitely hurt the quality of football this season, but it turns out there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Twenty-four Public League teams qualified for the state playoffs on Saturday, a record. The Illinois High School Association announced the qualifying teams on Saturday afternoon. The full playoff pairings will be revealed later Saturday night.

The Public League has qualified 20 or more teams four other times since the IHSA expanded football to eight classes in 2001. The previous high for the Public League was 23 teams in 2018.

Phillips is the only team from the Public League that has won a state title. The Wildcats won Class 4A in 2015 and Class 5A in 2015.

Why did so many Public League teams qualify this season? It’s likely due to a number of factors. Many schools around the state have switched to 8-man football, freeing up spots in the IHSA’s 256-team playoff field. It was also a bit easier to gather the five necessary wins this season, with so many Public League teams forfeiting games and finishing winless.

How it happened isn’t as important as what the playoff experiences will do for the Public League programs. A playoff appearance, win or lose, is a shot in the arm for any team struggling to find its footing in the community. It will encourage the current players to work harder in the off season and likely lead to more players joining the teams next season.

Here’s the complete list of Public League teams that qualified for the IHSA state playoffs: Taft (8A), Young (7A), Mather (6A), Kennedy (6A), Simeon (6A), Amundsen (6A), Kenwood (6A), Bulls Prep (5A), Payton (5A), Morgan Park (5A), Brooks (5A), Goode (5A), Comer (5A), Bogan (4A), Sullivan (4A), Hyde Park (4A), Phillips (4A), Catalyst Maria (3A), Carver (3A), King (3A), Clark (3A), Julian (2A), North Lawndale (2A), Raby (1A).

Public League football teams that have qualified for state in the eight-class era

2019-20 (20 teams)

Taft (8A), Curie (8A), Phillips (7A), Lincoln Park (7A), Simeon (6A), Mather (6A), Kenwood (6A), Morgan Park (6A), Payton (5A), Hyde Park (5A), Amundsen (5A), Phoenix (4A), Ag. Science (4A), Clark (4A), UP-Bronzeville (4A), Sullivan (4A), Carver (3A), Harlan (3A), Dunbar (3A), Orr (2A).

2018-19 (23 teams)

Taft (8A), Simeon (7A), Lincoln Park (7A), Von Steuben (6A), Phillips (6A), Kenwood (6A), Payton (5A), Back of the Yards (5A), Phoenix (5A), Hyde Park (5A), Brooks (5A), Amundsen (5A), Raby (4A), UP-Bronzeville (4A), Sullivan (4A), Ag. Science (4A), Clemente (4A), Dunbar (3A), Clark (3A), UP-Englewood (3A), Harlan (2A), Collins (2A), Orr (1A).

2017-18 (19 teams)

Curie (8A), Lincoln Park (7A), Simeon (7A), Mather (6A), Hubbard (6A), Phillips (5A), Morgan Park (5A), Back of the Yards (5A), Solorio (5A), Westinghouse (5A), Lindblom (5A), Payton (5A), UP-Englewood (4A), Ag. Science (4A), Sullivan (4A), Raby (4A), UP-Bronzeville (4A), Orr (2A), Marshall (2A).

2016-17 (17 teams)

Curie (8A), Taft (8A), Lincoln Park (7A), Simeon (7A), Perspectives (6A), Hubbard (6A), Morgan Park (6A), Westinghouse (5A), Solorio (5A), Goode (5A), UP-Bronzeville (5A), Payton (5A), South Shore (4A), Phillips (4A), Corliss (3A), Marine (3A), Clark (3A).

2015-16 (17 teams)

Curie (8A), Lincoln Park (7A), Simeon (7A), Young (7A), Kenwood (6A), Hubbard (6A), Morgan Park (6A), Westinghouse (5A), Payton (5A), King (5A), DuSable (5A), Lindblom (5A), Solorio (5A), Phillips (4A), Raby (3A), Clark (3A), Douglass (1A).

2014-15 (17 teams)

Curie (8A), Taft (8A), Simeon (8A), Lincoln Park (7A), King (6A), Morgan Park (6A), North Lawndale (5A), UP-Englewood (5A), Westinghouse (5A), Solorio (5A), DuSable (5A), Payton (4A), Phillips (4A), Raby (3A), Harper (3A), Bowen (3A), Uplift (2A).

2013-14 (18 teams)

Lane (8A), Simeon (8A), Schurz (7A), Young (7A), Dunbar (7A), Hubbard (6A), Morgan Park (5A), UP-Englewood (5A), Brooks (5A), UP-Bronzeville (5A), UP-West (4A), Phillips (4A), King (4A), Payton (4A), North Lawndale (4A), Harper (3A), Raby (3A), Robeson (3A).

2012-13 (15 teams)

Simeon (8A), Hyde Park (7A), Lake View (7A), Foreman (7A), Steinmetz (7A), Perspectives (7A), Morgan Park (7A), Westinghouse (5A), King (5A), Voise-Austin (4A), Marshall (4A), Payton (4A), Brooks (4A), Harper (4A), Raby (3A).

2011-12 (20 teams)

Simeon (8A), Taft (8A), Dunbar (8A), Curie (8A), Morgan Park (6A), Hyde Park (6A), Hubbard (6A), Foreman (6A), Urban Prep (5A), King (5A), Robeson (5A), Julian (5A), Brooks (4A), Longwood (4A), Marshall (4A), Phillips (4A), Fenger (4A), Harper (4A), Payton (4A), Austin (2A).

2010-11 (21 teams)

Dunbar (8A), Young (8A), Curie (8A), Vocational (8A), Simeon (7A), Taft (7A), Morgan Park (6A), Hyde Park (6A), Robeson (6A), DuSable (6A), Hubbard (6A), King (5A), Harlan (5A), Orr (5A), Senn (5A), Julian (5A), Uplift (4A), Harper (4A), Collins (4A), Carver (4A), Longwood (4A).

2009-10 (16 teams)

Taft (8A), Simeon (8A), Curie (8A), Bogan (7A), Morgan Park (6A), Harlan (6A), Julian (6A), Mather (6A), King (6A), Robeson (6A), Hubbard (6A), Senn (5A), Orr (5A), Brooks (5A), Raby (4A), Dyett (4A).

2008-09 (13 teams)

Lane (8A), Curie (8A), Simeon (8A), Lincoln Park (7A), Steinmetz (7A), Morgan Park (6A), Harlan (6A), Hubbard (6A), Clark (5A), Marshall (5A), Robeson (5A), Harper (5A), Manley (5A).

2007-08 (10 teams)

Lane (8A), Young (8A), Curie (8A), Morgan Park (7A), King (6A), Hubbard (6A), Simeon (6A), Robeson (5A), Harper (5A), Manley (5A).

2006-07 (12 teams)

Lane (8A), Mather (7A), Vocational (7A), Morgan Park (7A), Dunbar (6A), Simeon (6A), Hubbard (6A), King (5A), Brooks (5A), Marshall (5A), Robeson (5A), Carver (5A).

2005-06 (13 teams)

Lane (8A), Curie (8A), Morgan Park (7A), Young (7A), Harper (6A), Robeson (6A), Dunbar (6A), Hubbard (6A), Simeon (6A), Corliss (5A), Westinghouse (5A), Crane (5A), Longwood (1A).

2004-05 (12 teams)

Lane (8A), Steinmetz (8A), Morgan Park (7A), Simeon (7A), Vocational (7A), Julian (6A), Harper (6A), Prosser (6A), Hubbard (6A), Austin (6A), Dunbar (6A), Crane (5A).

2003-04 (9 teams)

Lane (8A), Steinmetz (8A), Hubbard (7A), Morgan Park (7A), Harper (6A), Westinghouse (6A), Simeon (6A), Corliss (5A), Robeson (5A).

2002-03 (11 teams)

Lane (8A), Hubbard (7A), Young (7A), Dunbar (7A), Simeon (7A), Morgan Park (7A), Prosser (6A), Harper (6A), Julian (6A), Fenger (5A), Robeson (5A).

2001-02 (9 teams)

Curie (8A), Lane (8A), Dunbar (7A), Mather (7A), Morgan Park (7A), Simeon (6A), Harper (6A), Marshall (5A), Robeson (5A).

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Baker is four wins from a massive first. | Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Love or hate this Houston club, you’ve got to be happy for Baker. Unless you don’t like him, either.

Love or hate the Houston Astros, you’ve got to be happy for manager Dusty Baker. Unless you don’t like him, either, in which case we don’t know what to tell you.

Baker, 72, is back in the World Series and still aiming for his first world championship as a manager. Perhaps he needs that accomplishment to become the first Black skipper in the Hall of Fame, though he probably doesn’t. Baker is 12th on the career list for wins, a three-time Manager of the Year and the only manager in major league history to win division titles with five different clubs.

Still, he badly wants both the championship and a plaque in Cooperstown. For his father. For his late big brother-like figure, Hank Aaron. For late friends Joe Morgan, Bob Watson and so many others. And for himself.

“As an African American, most of the time they don’t really say that you are of a certain intelligence,” Baker said after the Astros vanquished the Red Sox in the American League Championship series. “That’s not something we usually get, and so I’ve been hearing a lot of this stuff most of my life. …

“But like I tell [my players], you don’t have anything to prove or show anybody. The only entities that you have to satisfy are God, family and yourself. And then the other people? They can see you later.”

Eventually, they can see him in Cooperstown. And maybe, a little over a week from now, in the mother of all champagne celebrations.

Here’s what’s happening:

SUN 24

Manchester United vs. Liverpool (10:30 a.m., NBCSN)

Add Cristiano Ronaldo to the mix for Man U, and this rivalry with mighty Liverpool — the fiercest one in English soccer — gets kicked up a few more notches.

Washington at Packers (noon, Fox-32)

Man, we can’t wait to see Washington QB Taylor Heinecke roll right, fake a throw to the end zone, race to the near pylon, take a hit, spring to his feet after scoring and shout at the Lambeau Field crowd, “I still own you!” Wait, has he even faced the Packers before?

Chiefs at Titans (noon, Ch. 2)

The Chiefs are running out of time to convince us they’re still, you know, the Chiefs. A loss would drop Patrick Mahomes and Co. below .500.

Bears at Buccaneers (3:25 p.m., Ch. 2)

Tom Brady is at Michael Jordan’s level when it comes to finding special motivation to make an opponent suffer. Yes, you’d better believe Brady sees this as a payback game for last year’s Bears win.

Red Wings at Blackhawks (6 p.m., NBCSCH, NHL)

One of these nights, the Hawks are going to take the ice and at least vaguely resemble an NHL team.

Dodgers at Braves, Game 7, if necessary (6:30 p.m., TBS)

It’s hard to imagine anything more gut-wrenching than blowing a 3-1 NLCS lead against the Dodgers two years in a row, but here the Braves are.

MON 25

Bulls at Raptors (6:30 p.m., NBCSCH)

A fourth straight game against an opponent projected as a non-playoff team? Somebody slip the schedule-maker an extra $20.

Saints at Seahawks (7:15 p.m., ESPN)

All of Seattle is calling this a must-win for the 2-4 Seahawks. Shall “The Geno Smith Game” live forever in football lore?

TUE 26

World Series, Game 1 (TBD, Fox-32)

Those aren’t “boos.” They’re “Altuuuuves.” Or maybe they’re boos.

WED 27

Maple Leafs at Blackhawks (6:30 p.m., NBCSCH)

Not to tell Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe how to do his job, but we’d consider giving redhot goalie Jack Campbell a well-deserved night off.

THU 28

Knicks at Bulls (7 p.m., NBCSCH)

Old pals Derrick Rose and Tom Thibodeau return for a visit. Just wait until the game starts and they find out about all the new players the Bulls have.

Packers at Cardinals (7:20 p.m., Fox-32, NFL)

Don’t look now, but Arizona might be the best team in the NFL. OK, fine, you can go ahead and look.

FRI 29

Blackhawks at Hurricanes (6 p.m., NBCSCH)

Last time the Hawks played at PNC Arena, they won on an Alex DeBrincat goal in overtime. They’ve still lost seven of their last nine in Raleigh, but let’s not get into the weeds.

SAT 30

Michigan at Michigan State (11 a.m., Fox-32)

It’s hard to top the 7-0 Wolverines against the 7-0 Spartans. How rare and glorious to have a Big Ten game this gigantic that doesn’t involve Ohio State.

Florida vs. Georgia (2:30 p.m., Ch. 2)

The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs are running out of hurdles as they try to get to the SEC title game with a perfect record, but you can throw out the records when these mega-rivals get after it — 40,000 fans in red, 40,000 in blue — in Jacksonville.

Penn State at Ohio State (6:30 p.m., Ch. 7)

Just a hunch after watching the Nittany Lions’ nine-overtime debacle against Illinois: coach James Franklin won’t be going for two unless it’s absolutely necessary.

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Illinois’ Isaiah Williams scores a two-point conversion in the eighth overtime against Penn State on Saturday in State College, Pa. | Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

Casey Washington caught a two-point conversion pass from Brandon Peters to end the first nine-overtime game in NCAA history and lift the Illini to a 20-18 victory.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Casey Washington caught a 2-point conversion pass from Brandon Peters to end the first nine-overtime game in NCAA history and lift Illinois over No. 7 Penn State 20-18 Saturday.

The teams were tied at 10 after regulation, exchanged field goals in the first two overtimes, then began to alternate 2-point attempts in the third OT as part of a format tweaked ahead of the 2021 season.

Neither team converted until the eighth overtime, when Isaiah Williams ran one in to put Illinois up 18-16. Penn State’s Noah Cain kept the game alive with a 2-point run of his own.

In the ninth OT, Sean Clifford’s pass to Parker Washington was broken up by linebacker Khalan Tolson. Peters then found Washington near the back of the end zone for the winning completion.

The 2-point conversion shootout started in 2019, the season after LSU and Texas A&M played a seven overtime game that left both teams badly beaten up. The rule was tweaked this year, with the 2-point conversion possessions beginning with the third overtime instead of the fifth.

Chase Brown and Josh McCray combined for 365 rushing yards and a touchdown and James McCourt kicked three field goals, including 39- and 32-yarders in overtime, to snap Illinois’ three-game skid to Penn State.

The two bullish backs blasted through wide-open holes and flanked Penn State’s defense again and again on a soggy day at Beaver Stadium. The Illini (3-5, 2-3 Big Ten) outgained the Nittany Lions 370 yards to 207 in regulation and battled back from an early 10-0 deficit.

Peters, normally Illinois’ starter, came off the bench when Artur Sitkowski hurt his left hand in the sixth overtime period.

KeAndre Lambert-Smith caught a touchdown pass and Jordan Stout added three field goals for the Nittany Lions (5-2, 2-2) who ran for just 62 yards and struggled to protect ailing Clifford.

Led by Brown’s 229 total yards, the Illini tied it 10-10 early in the fourth quarter with a 37-yard field goal from McCourt.

A sloppy fourth quarter gave way to overtime where McCourt and Stout matched each other on field goals before a string of goal line standoffs pushed the game into unprecedented territory.

Clifford suffered an unspecified injury on Oct. 9 at Iowa and didn’t finish that game. He handled a light workload early Saturday.

The third-year starter attempted just nine passes in the first half and was slow to get to his feet after taking a sack on his first series. After two lackluster possessions and just 15 yards on seven plays, Clifford was able to rally his offense on its third try.

Working quickly, Clifford completed two straight passes downfield to top target Jahan Dotson, then fired a bullet to slanting KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a 42-yard touchdown.

The Nittany Lions’ defense helped out moments later when linebacker Brandon Smith blasted Sitkowski. The backup quarterback fumbled to D’Von Ellies.

Penn State settled for a 35-yard field goal from Stout when the offense stalled at the Illinois 17. Stout’s kick made it 10-0 with 11:42 to play in the second quarter.

Illinois’ rushing offense, which racked up 165 yards in the first half, picked up the pace.

Led by Brown and McCray, the Illini ran the ball 12 times on a 15-play drive that ended when Brown bulled into the end zone from a yard out and cut Penn State’s lead to 10-7.

Illinois continued to control the pace with its running game, and turned a 16-play, 70-yard drive into a tying field goal from McCourt.

THE TAKEAWAY

Illinois: The Illini were in it from the opening whistle. They used seven-man fronts and the hard-charging abilities of McCray and Brown to outmuscle Penn State’s defense nearly all day.

Penn State: Getting Clifford back perhaps sooner than they thought was great news for the Nittany Lions, especially since their running game is virtually nonexistent and they’ll need all the offense they can get with games at No. 5 Ohio State, vs. No. 6 Michigan and at No. 9 Michigan State coming up.

UP NEXT

Illinois: Hosts Rutgers.

Penn State: Visits No. 5 Ohio State.

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Michigan’s Hassan Haskins runs for a touchdown against Northwestern on Saturday at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. | Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Blake Corum and Hassan Haskins combined for 229 yards rushing and four touchdowns, carrying the Wolverines to a 33-7 victory.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan got off to a sluggish start, perhaps peeking ahead to playing Michigan State. Then the Wolverines used a strong finish to seal a matchup of undefeated rivals.

Blake Corum and Hassan Haskins combined for 229 yards rushing and four touchdowns, carrying No. 6 Michigan to a 33-7 win over Northwestern on Saturday.

Shortly after the victory, Jim Harbaugh’s thoughts had already shifted to facing the ninth-ranked Spartans on the road.

“All focus is there,” he said.

The Wolverines (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) led the Wildcats (3-4, 1-3) by just three at halftime. They pulled away by outscoring them 23-0 in the first 16:40 of the second half.

“We played pretty solid in the first half to give ourselves a chance,” Northwestern coach Pat Fizgerald said. “And, then we reverted back to some bad habits.”

Corum finished with 119 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Haskins ran for 110 yards and two scores.

Corum jukes defenders with shifty moves while Haskins runs through them with power.

“We both bring different things to the table,” Corum said. “We feed off each other.”

Michigan had 294 yards rushing, nearly 50 yards more than its average.

“They’re the best rushing offense in the country for a reason,” Fitzgerald said.

Cade McNamara was 20 of 27 for 129 yards for the Wolverines, whose inability to throw the ball downfield might prove to be a problem against tougher teams.

Northwestern quarterback Ryan Hilinski, a South Carolina transfer, completed 14 of 29 passes for 114 yards with an interception. He was replaced early in the fourth quarter by Carl Richardson, who was 2 for 3 for 9 yards.

Evan Hull had a 75-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter, making it 10-7 and nearly doubling the yards the Wildcats had in the game at that point.

Down 17-7 midway through the third, Northwestern’s Charlie Kuhbander missed a 39-yard field goal.

“There’s a lot of good things we can take from this game, and a lot of things where we let it get away from us,” Hilinski said.

THE TAKEAWAY

Northwestern: The defense, which has improved steadily this season, held a potent offense in check during the first half before wearing down because the Wildcats struggled to sustain drives offensively.

Michigan: Coming off a bye and before playing the Spartans, a lackluster start was understandable even if Harbaugh and his players refused to acknowledge it.

STRONG START

Michigan has won its first seven games for the first time since 2016, Harbaugh’s second season, when it started 9-0 and finished 10-3 with a loss to Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

DOING IT ALL

Wide receiver Cornelius Johnson blocked a punt in the third quarter.

“That’s the first time he’s been put in that position,” Harbaugh said.

The block set up Haskins’ 13-yard run that gave Michigan a 24-7 lead. Johnson also caught three passes for 30 yards, drew at least one flag for a first down, and had a 6-yard run.

Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, the Big Ten’s top defensive player at midseason, recovered a fumble early in the fourth after sharing a sack, deflecting a pass and getting credit for two quarterback hurries.

YOUNG CATS

The Wildcats, a defending division champion, have alternated between losing and winning each game in a challenging season that Fitzgerald is confident will pay off in the future.

“We have a lot of young guys out there who are getting really valuable experience,” he said.

TROPHY GAME

The Wolverines won the newly created George Jewett Trophy, honoring the first Black football player at both schools.

“To play for that was an honor,” Fitzgerald said.

Jewett played for Michigan during the 1890 and 1892 seasons, then left Michigan for Northwestern in 1893 to finish his medical degree. He played two seasons for the Wildcats.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Michigan doesn’t have much room to move up, but will close the regular season with plenty of chances against Michigan State, No. 7 Penn State and No. 5 Ohio State.

UP NEXT

Northwestern: Hosts Minnesota.

Michigan: Plays at Spartan Stadium in a highly anticipated matchup of undefeated rivals.

“We’re excited,” McNamara said. “We’re confident.”

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At Saturday’s “Carve with a Cop” event, children 3 through 13 years old were invited to decorate and carve pumpkins with local police officers. | Madeline Kenney/Sun-Times

At Saturday’s “Carve with a Cop” event, children 3 through 13 years old were invited to decorate and carve pumpkins with local police officers.

With the leaves starting to fall and temperatures taking a dip, spooky season is in full effect in Chicago, and a pop-up pumpkin patch, organized by the Chicago Police Department, was helping West Side residents get into the Halloween spirit.

About 200 children picked up perfectly plump pumpkins just in time for Halloween next weekend at the “Carve with a Cop” event, hosted by CPD’s 15th District in a parking lot across the street from its station, at 5701 W. Madison St.

With spooky music playing in the background, cheerful kids — several in costumes — decorated their Walmart-donated pumpkins in various ways. Some opted to paint their gourds while others carved faces with the help of officers or other adults.

Margaret Jones, a mother of six, brought her 10-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son to the event not only for them to decorate pumpkins but also to show support for the officers.

“This is what we do — any type of family activity that we could have, I try to share it with [my children], any type of community thing, I try to share with them,” Jones said.

Jones’ youngest child, Alexander, said he was having “a lot of fun” as he painted blue hair on his jack-o-lantern.

“You’re quite the artist,” CPD Sgt. Rhianna Hubbard told Alexander.

Hubbard said planning the fall event was a “team effort.” They started handing out flyers in schools weeks ago and shared details of the event on social media.

Officer Michele Molina, who also helped organize the event, said the goal was to provide a fun and safe environment for children, especially since younger people are affected by rising crime in the community.

“A lot of children have been hurt with shootings and high crime, violent crimes, and kids can’t play outside anymore,” Molina said.

Hubbard also said the district made a point of inviting children as young as 3 to start developing a relationship with them.

“We need to start earlier at younger ages with the kids and letting them know that we are partners in the community, versus opposition,” Hubbard said.

Events like this are important to help officers “gain that trust back with the community and the children,” Molina said.

“We want them to feel like they can trust us,” Molina said. “We want [to] let them know we’re here, as safety, as friends, assistance — anything they need.”

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This photo shows the Bonanza Creek Ranch one day after an incident left one crew member dead and another injured, Friday, Oct. 22, 2021 in Santa Fe, N.M. | Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal via AP

Before the incident, an assistant director grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to the film’s star, Alec Baldwin, assuring him it didn’t have live ammo, according to court documents made public Friday.

SANTA FE, N.M. — Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set with a gun a crew member had assured the actor was safe, a tragic mistake that came hours and days after some workers walked off the job to protest safety conditions and other production issues.

An assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart at a desert movie ranch and handed it to Baldwin during a Thursday rehearsal for the Western film “Rust,” according to court records made public Friday.

“Cold gun,” Halls yelled, declaring the weapon didn’t carry live ammunition and was ready to fire.

But it wasn’t. When Baldwin pulled the trigger, he unwittingly killed 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her inside a wooden, chapel-like building.

A 911 call that alerted authorities to the shooting at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe hints at the panic on the movie set, as detailed in a recording released by the Santa Fe County Regional Emergency Communications Center

“We had two people accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun, we need help immediately,” script supervisor Mamie Mitchell told an emergency dispatcher. “We were rehearsing and it went off, and I ran out, we all ran out.”

The dispatcher asked if the gun was loaded with a real bullet.

“I cannot tell you. We have two injuries,” Mitchell replied. “And this (expletive) AD (assistant director) that yelled at me at lunch, asking about revisions. … He’s supposed to check the guns. He’s responsible for what happens on the set.”

Halls did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. The Associated Press was unable to contact Hannah Gutierrez, the film’s armorer, and several messages sent to production companies affiliated with “Rust” did not receive responses Friday.

The gun Baldwin used was one of three that Gutierrez had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to the court records. Halls grabbed the firearm from the cart and brought it inside to the actor, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in a search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez removed a shell casing from the gun after the shooting, and she turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.

Guns used in making movies are sometimes real weapons that can fire either bullets or blanks, which are gunpowder charges that produce a flash and a bang but no dangerous projectile.

Mitchell, the script supervisor, told The Associated Press she was standing next to Hutchins when the cinematographer was hit.

“I ran out and called 911 and said ‘Bring everybody, send everybody,’ ” Mitchell said. “This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.”

Filmmaker Souza, who was shot in the shoulder, said in a statement to NBC News that he was grateful for the support he was receiving and gutted by the loss of Hutchins. “She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better,” he said.

Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said prosecutors are reviewing evidence in the shooting and do not know if charges will be filed.

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.” He was a producer of “Rust.”

“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. I’m fully cooperating with the police investigation,” Baldwin wrote on Twitter. “My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”

Jim Weber/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP
Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in Santa Fe, N.M., on Thursday after he was questioned about a shooting on the set of the film “Rust” on the outskirts of Santa Fe.

Production on “Rust” was halted after the shooting. The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website.

Before the fateful rehearsal, there were signs of problems on the set. Seven crew members walked off several hours before Hutchins was killed to express their discontent with matters that ranged from safety conditions to their accommodations, according to one of the crew members who left.

The disputes began soon after filming began in early October, said the crew member, who requested anonymity because he feared speaking up would hurt his prospects for future jobs.

The crew was initially housed at the Courtyard Marriot in Santa Fe, according to the crew member. Four days in, however, they were told that going forward they would be housed at the budget Coyote South hotel. Some crew members balked at staying there.

The Los Angeles Times and Variety also reported on the walkout. Rust Movie Productions did not answer emails Friday and Saturday seeking comment.

There were other concerns.

Only minimal COVID-19 precautions were taken even though crew and cast members often worked in small enclosed spaces on the ranch, the crew member who spoke to the AP said. He said he never witnessed any formal orientation about weapons used on set, which normally would take place before filming begins.

A combination of those concerns prompted the seven to walk off the job.

“We packed our gear and left that morning,” the crew member said of the Thursday walkout.

New Mexico workplace safety investigators are examining if film industry standards for gun safety were followed during the production of “Rust.” The Los Angeles Times reported that five days before the shooting, Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun didn’t have any ammunition.

A crew member who was alarmed by the misfires told a unit production manager in a text message, “We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe,” according to a copy of the message reviewed by the newspaper.

Gutierrez, the film’s armorer, is the daughter of a longtime Hollywood firearms expert. She gave an interview in September to the Voices of the West podcast in which she said she had learned how to handle guns from her father since she was a teenager.

During the podcast interview. Gutierrez shared that she just finished her first movie in the role of head armorer, a project in Montana starring Nicholas Cage titled “The Old Way.”

“I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready but doing it, like, it went really smoothly,” she said.

In another on-set gun death from 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed by a bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene. Similar shootings have occurred involving stage weapons that were loaded with live rounds during historical re-enactments.

Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience.

Andres Leighton/AP
A law enforcement vehicle leaves the Bonanza Creek Film Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M. on Friday, Oct. 22, 2021.

Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Jake Coyle and Jocelyn Noveck in New York; Lizzie Knight in London; Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine; Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles; Susan Montoya Bryan in Santa Fe; Walter Berry in Phoenix; and Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.

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A 15-year-old boy was shot Oct. 23, 2021, in Park Manor. | Adobe Stock Photo

About 11:55 a.m., he was walking in the 6600 block of South King Drive, when someone inside a vehicle pulled up and fired shots before fleeing.

A 15-year-old boy was shot Saturday in Park Manor on the South Side.

About 11:55 a.m., the boy was walking in the 6600 block of South King Drive, when someone inside a vehicle pulled up and fired shots before fleeing, Chicago police said.

He was rushed to Comer Children’s Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

Area One detectives are investigating.

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A law enforcement vehicle leaves the Bonanza Creek Film Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M. on Friday. The movie “Rust” was being shot at the ranch on Thursday when actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set, killing the cinematographer, officials said. The director of the movie was wounded. | Associated Press

Before the incident, an assistant director grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to the film’s star, Alec Baldwin, assuring him it didn’t have live ammo, according to court documents made public Friday.

SANTA FE, N.M. — As a film crew and actors in Western garb prepared to rehearse a scene inside a wooden, chapel-like building on a desert movie ranch outside Santa Fe, assistant director Dave Halls stepped outside and grabbed a prop gun off a cart.

He walked back in and handed it to the film’s star, Alec Baldwin, assuring him it was safe to use because it didn’t have live ammo.

“Cold gun,” Halls yelled.

It wasn’t, according to court records made public Friday. Instead, when Baldwin pulled the trigger Thursday, he killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her.

Authorities were alerted to the shooting by a 911 call that hints at panic on the movie set, as detailed in a recording obtained by the Albuquerque Journal.

“We had two people accidentally shot on a move set by a prop gun, we need help immediately,” a script supervisor told an emergency dispatcher. “We were rehearsing and it went off and I ran out, we all ran out.”

The dispatcher asks if the gun was loaded with a real bullet.

“I cannot tell you. We have two injuries,” the script director said

The tragedy came nearly three decades after Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, died in a similar case, and it prompted horrified questions about how it could have happened again. The executive producer of ABC’s police drama “The Rookie” announced Friday the show would no longer use “live” weapons because the “safety of our cast and crew is too important.”

Details of the shooting at the ranch on Bonanza Creek Road were included in a search warrant application filed by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators were seeking to examine Baldwin’s blood-stained costume for the film “Rust,” as well as the weapon that was fired, other prop guns and ammunition, and any footage that might exist.

The gun was one of three that the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being acted, according to the records. Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez removed a shell casing from the gun after the shooting, and she turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.

Halls did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. The Associated Press was unable to contact Gutierrez, and several messages sent to production companies affiliated with the film were not immediately returned Friday.

The film’s script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, said she was standing next to Hutchins when she was shot.

“I ran out and called 911 and said ‘Bring everybody, send everybody,’ ” Mitchell told The Associated Press. “This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.”

Mitchell said she and other crew members were attending a private memorial service Friday night in Santa Fe.

Baldwin described the killing as a “tragic accident.”

“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. I’m fully cooperating with the police investigation,” Baldwin wrote on Twitter. “My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”

Jim Weber/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP
Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in Santa Fe, N.M., on Thursday after he was questioned about a shooting on the set of the film “Rust” on the outskirts of Santa Fe.

No immediate charges were filed, and sheriff’s spokesman Juan Rios said Baldwin was permitted to travel.

“He’s a free man,” Rios said.

Images of the 63-year-old actor — 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” — showed him distraught outside the sheriff’s office on Thursday.

Guns used in making movies are sometimes real weapons that can fire either bullets or blanks, which are gunpowder charges that produce a flash and a bang but no deadly projectile. Even blanks can eject hot gases and paper or plastic wadding from the barrel that can be lethal at close range. That proved to be the case in the death of actor Jon-Erik Hexum in 1984.

In another on-set accident in 1993, Lee was killed after a bullet was left in a prop gun, and similar shootings have occurred involving stage weapons that were loaded with live rounds during historical re-enactments.

Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience.

Sheriff’s deputies responded about 2 p.m. to the movie set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911 calls described a person being shot there, Rios said. The ranch has been used in dozens of films, including the recent Tom Hanks Western “News of the World.”

Gutierrez, the film’s armorer, gave an interview in September to Arizona-based podcast Voices of the West in which she said she had just finished her first movie while working as the head armorer, a project in Montana starring Nicholas Cage titled “The Old Way.”

“I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready but doing it, like, it went really smoothly,” she said.

Gutierrez is the daughter of Thell Reed, a quick-draw exhibition shooter and gun coach for stars who worked on films such as Tombstone and The Quick and the Dead, according to his IMDB profile. Gutierrez said she grew up around guns and her father had been teaching her a little bit about firearms since she was a teenager.

Hutchins, 42, worked as director of photography on the 2020 action film “Archenemy” starring Joe Manganiello. She was a 2015 graduate of the American Film Institute and was named a “rising star” by American Cinematographer in 2019.

“I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set,” said “Archenemy” director Adam Egypt Mortimer on Twitter. “She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film.”

Manganiello called Hutchins “an incredible talent” and “a great person” on his Instagram account. He said he was lucky to have worked with her.

After the shooting, production was halted on “Rust.” The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website. The teen goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather (played by Baldwin) after the boy is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.

This story was written by Associated Press staff writers Morgan Lee, Susan Montoya Bryan and Cedar Attanasio with contributions from AP writers Jake Coyle, Michelle L. Price and Jocelyn Noveck in New York; Lizzie Knight in London; Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine; Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles; Walter Berry in Phoenix; and Gene Johnson in Seattle.

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Chad Stahelski, co-director of the film, “John Wick,” demonstrates proper gun handling during a training session at 87Eleven Action Design in Inglewood, Calif. in 2014. | Casey Curry/Invision/AP

New York prohibits guns from being fired overnight on movie sets but does not otherwise regulate their use. Georgia and Louisiana regulate pyrotechnics on movie sets but have no specific rules around gun use.

Safety standards developed by film studios and labor unions are the primary protection for actors and film crews when a scene calls for using prop guns. The industry-wide guidance is clear: “Blanks can kill. Treat all firearms as if they are loaded.”

Shootings nevertheless have killed and injured people while cameras rolled, including the cinematographer who died and the director who was wounded this week when no one realized a prop gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin during the filming of “Rust” carried live rounds that are far more dangerous than blanks.

Despite some industry reforms following previous tragedies, the federal workplace safety agency in the U.S. is silent on the issue of on-set gun safety. And most of the preferred states for film and TV productions take a largely hands-off approach.

New York prohibits guns from being fired overnight on movie sets but does not otherwise regulate their use. Georgia and Louisiana, where the film industry has expanded rapidly, regulate pyrotechnics on movie sets but have no specific rules around gun use.

“We don’t have anything to do with firearms. We only regulate the special effects explosion-type stuff,” said Capt. Nick Manale, a state police spokesperson in Louisiana, where the film industry was credited with creating more than 9.600 jobs last year and generating nearly $800 million for local businesses. “I’m not sure who does that, or if anybody does.”

New Mexico, where court records show an assistant director handed Baldwin a loaded weapon and told him it was “cold,” or safe to use, during the Thursday filming of “Rust,” has no specific safety laws for the film industry. Much of the legislative debate over the industry, as in other states, has focused on tax credits and incentives to lure the lucrative entertainment business, not what happens on sets.

That approach has worked well for New Mexico. In addition to attracting some large film productions, the state is home to major production hubs for Netflix and NBCUniversal. It had a record $623 million in direct spending on productions between July 2020 through June of this year.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat and an ardent film industry supporter, touted the industry’s pandemic precautions over the summer, saying it had put safety first and cleared the way for work to resume.

Workplace safety is paramount in every industry in New Mexico, including film and television, the governor’s spokeswoman, Nora Meyers Sackett, said Friday.

“State and federal workplace safety regulations apply to the industry just as they do to all other workplaces, and the state Occupational Health and Safety Bureau is investigating,” Sackett said of the tragedy that unfolded on a movie ranch near Santa Fe. “This is an ongoing investigation, and we’re awaiting additional facts in order to understand how something so terrible and heartbreaking could have happened.”

A search warrant made public Friday said an assistant director on the set handed Baldwin a loaded weapon and indicated it was safe to use, unaware it was loaded with live rounds. The shot killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was struck in the chest, and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind Hutchins.

New Mexico workplace safety officials confirmed they would be looking at whether the crew followed industry standards. The agency does not routinely conduct safety inspections of sets and studios unless they receive complaints.

Instead of regulating firearm use on film and TV sets, many states leave it to the industry to follow its own guidelines. Those recommendations, issued by the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee, call for limited use of live ammunition and detailed requirements for the handling and use of firearms of all types. Safety meetings are to be held, actors are to keep their fingers off the triggers until they’re ready to shoot, and guns should never be unattended, the guidelines state.

Without specific state or federal regulations, it’s primarily up to the people working in productions to ensure guns are used safely. Brook Yeaton, vice president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union that represents workers in Louisiana and parts of Mississippi and Alabama, said his approach is to act like all weapons are real and to never allow live rounds on a set.

“They shouldn’t be in the truck. They shouldn’t be in the same car,” said Yeaton, a prop master for more than 30 years. “You really have to make sure your inventory is totally separate from the real world and everything you bring on set is safe.”

In one of the world’s premier film centers, New York City, productions are required to adhere to a code of conduct that spells out rules for parking, notifying neighbors and other details. The safety rules feature a sections on covering cables and getting permits for exotic animals. But the only mention of gunshots is under the “community relations” heading: The sound of shots should not ring outdoors between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m.

The website of the Texas Film Commission states that productions using prop weapons — which can be replicas or real guns that fire blanks rather than live ammunition — must have safety policies, expert weapon handlers and proof of insurance. The Texas governor’s office, which oversees the commission, did not return calls from The Associated Press asking about how those rules are enforced.

California, still the capital of the film industry, requires an entertainment firearms permit, though it’s not clear how permit requirements are enforced.

Hutchins’ fatal shooting near Santa Fe followed previous gun-related deaths and injuries on movie sets.

Actor Brandon Lee died in March 1993 after he was shot in the abdomen while filming a scene of “The Crow.” Lee was killed by a makeshift bullet that remained in a gun from a previous scene. The U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration fined the production $84,000 for violations after the actor’s death, but the fine was later reduced to $55,000.

Associated Press
Actor Brandon Lee, son of the late martial arts expert and film star Bruce Lee, was killed in 1993 in an accidental shooting on a movie set.

In 2005, OSHA fined Greystone Television and Films $650 after a crewmember was shot in the thigh, elbow and hand. It turned out that balloon-breaking birdshot rounds were in the same box as the blanks that were supposed to be used in rifles.

New Mexico state lawmaker Antonio “Moe” Maestas, an Albuquerque lawyer and champion of his state’s film incentives, questioned whether any safety legislation could have prevented the fatal shooting on the set of “Rust.”

“How can you dis-incentivize an involuntary act?” he asked.

Maestas said production companies might think about using post-production effects to mimic the sights and sounds they now rely on prop guns to create.

“That’s the only way to really ensure this never happens again,” he said.

Contributing: Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta; Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Anthony McCartney in Los Angeles; and Amy Taxin in Orange County, California.

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