Celebrated Hollywood stuntman Alex Schoenauer has filed a lawsuit against the Oak Tree Gun Club and others, alleging he was shot in the back with a semiautomatic assault rifle while auditioning for a stuntman role.
Gun club officials were expected Tuesday to return email and phone messages left for them by The Signal. “(The manager) is going through all the emails,” said a man who answered the phone at the gun club Tuesday and who asked that all queries be sent via email.
The shooting happened Sept. 26, 2018, shortly before 4:30 p.m., at the gun club in Newhall, on Coltane Avenue, along Interstate 5.
The injured man, who was not identified at the time of the shooting, was taken to the hospital with injuries described on the day of the shooting by Lt. Ignacio Somoano with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station as “non-life-threatening.”
In a lawsuit filed July 9 with the Los Angeles Superior Court, Schoenauer names others in the suit that include: JMP Productions Inc., which produces the TV shows “Seal Team” and “SWAT,” the show’s producer Julie Michaels, stuntwoman Corinne Van Ryck de Groot and David Allen Shaw Jr., a certified firearms instructor.
Schoenauer and de Groot were at the gun club auditioning for a role on the TV shows, the lawsuit alleges.
The two were sent by Michaels, to Shaw, who, according to the suit, has routinely worked with Michaels in auditioning and training prospective stunt people.
According to Schoenauer, Shaw was authorized to conduct training at the Oak Tree Gun Club.
Shaw and others staged an action scene at the Oak Tree Gun Club for Schoenauer and de Groot, the suit alleges.
The scene required Schoenauer to burst through a doorway with de Groot right behind him.
As they did this, they were both to be gripping semiautomatic assault rifles provided by Shaw and others.
“Per Mr. Shaw’s arrangement, both rifles were loaded with live ammunition,” the lawsuit states.
As Schoenauer burst through the doorway, de Groot shot him from behind, according to the lawsuit.
The bullet entered Schoenauer’s upper back and exited his upper arm and shoulder.
Paramedics with the Los Angeles County Fire Department treated the injured man at the scene and then took him to the hospital, Fire Department Supervisor Imy McBride said on the day of the shooting.
As a stuntman, Schoenauer has worked on films that include the “Transformers” movies “Bumblebee,” “The Last Knight” and “Age of Extinction.”
He’s also done stunt work in “Star Trek Beyond,” “Identity Crisis” and “Fast Five,” the fifth installment of the “Fast & Furious” movie franchise.
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5 Comments
The tag line is misleading. He was not actually auditioning but training for and preparing for the audition.
“They were doing some training that was way above their skill set with an unqualified instructor and got shot in the back. Totally unnecessary accident that shouldn’t have happened.”
The instructor was at fault for using live ammunition during the action “scene” training. Both stunt performers were also equally at fault for allowing the live ammunition. Should have known better.
It doesn’t make sense that an experienced instructor would have actors practice with live ammo when they will be using blanks in the real shoot.
That would be a serious lack of judgement on the instructor’s part. So serious I would question that it happened.
I would wonder is someone made a change like as what killed Bruce Lee when someone changed blanks for live ammo.
I cannot WAIT to find out why they were using LIVE ammunition…
Were they auditioning for a real-life assault team, or a TV show? Last time I checked, there is a small difference…
Live ammunition is NEVER used in movies, EVER. The instructor who allowed or chose to allow live ammunition is definitely at fault. The stuntmen are also at fault for allowing this to happen. The only training with live ammunition is in the military. NEVER in movies whether for training or filming. This is against the strict rules of filming.
The only thing I can think of which is unacceptable is that they didn’t have access to blanks such as those used in movies and the instructor felt that it would be more real to use any type that goes bang…In this instance “live” ammunition which is beyond unsafe.