Movie stuntman sues Oak Tree Gun Club, alleging he was shot in the back during audition

Oak Tree Gun Club. file photo by Austin Dave, The Signal.
Share on facebook
Share
Share on twitter
Tweet
Share on email
Email

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.

[email protected] 

661-287-5527 

On Twitter @jamesarthurholt

Related To This Story

Latest NEWS