Criminal charges ‘on the table’ in accidental deadly shooting by Alec Baldwin on Rust movie set

The Rust movie’s armourer says she’s not to blame for the accidental shooting of filmmaker Halyna Hutchins by star Alec Baldwin, as investigators say criminal charges are “on the table”.

US actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust: Picture: Angela Weiss / AFP.

The armourer on the “Rust” film says she checked dummy rounds and ensured they weren’t “hot” before star Alec Baldwin unwittingly shot dead the movie’s cinematographer, according to a search warrant affidavit released on Wednesday.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, told a detective that she conducted safety checks on the weapon used by Baldwin in the fatal shooting before putting it on an unsecured prop table outside the set, according to the document.

Ms Gutierrez-Reed said that the firearms were secured inside a safe on a “prop truck” before they were retrieved by the film’s prop master Sarah Zachry, handed to the armourer, and then placed on the cart, the affidavit says.

According to court papers, David Halls, the assistant director, then took the firearm and handed it to Baldwin who then accidentally shot dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal in New Mexico.

“David advised when Hannah showed him the firearm before continuing rehearsal, he could only remember seeing three rounds,” the affidavit states.

Mr Halls told investigators that he did not check all three rounds in a handgun before giving it to Baldwin and declaring it a “cold gun”, the documents allege.

“He advised he should have checked all of them, but didn’t, and couldn’t recall if she spun the drum,” it reads.

Ms Gutierrez-Reed told an investigator that no live ammunition “is ever kept on set”.

“She advised there are only a few people that have access and the combination to the safe,” the affidavit said.

CRIMINAL CHARGES ‘ON THE TABLE’

Meanwhile, Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and County Sheriff Adan Mendoza on Wednesday provided the first detailed public comments by investigators about the movie-set shooting by Baldwin that left Ms Hutchins dead and director Joel Souza wounded at a ranch outside Santa Fe.

“Everything at this point, including criminal charges, is on the table,” Ms Carmack-Altwies told reporters.

“No one has been ruled out at this point.”

Court records say that armourer Hannah Reed-Gutierrez left three guns on a cart, before assistant director Dave Halls grabbed one of them and handed it to Baldwin, indicating the weapon was safe by yelling “cold gun.”

Halyna Hutchins was killed on the set of Rust.

Serge Svetnoy posted this photo on Facebook describing the final scene involving Halyna Hutchins and Alec Baldwin.

Rookie armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed on the set of Rust. Picture: Facebook

But Mr Mendoza said preliminary investigations revealed that the F.lli Pietta 45 Long Colt Revolver fired by Baldwin contained an apparent “live round”, adding that the chamber did not appear to contain a second bullet.

“The actual led projectile that was fired has been recovered from the shoulder of Mr Souza,” he continued.

“We know there was one live round as far as we’re concerned … we’re going to determine how those got there and why they were there, because they shouldn’t have been.”

A total of three firearms and 500 rounds of ammunition – including a “mix of blanks, dummy rounds and suspected live rounds” – as well as several items of clothing have been recovered from the set for forensic analysis, according to Mr Mendoza.

“We suspect there were other live rounds that were found on set,” he said.

“I won’t comment further on how they got there. This investigation is active, so I won’t comment on how they got there, but we suspect that they are there. That will be determined when testing is done by the crime lab in reference to whether or not they are officially live rounds or not.”

He said it was “too early to comment on charges at this point” but the three people who handled the gun – including Baldwin, Mr Halls, and Ms Reed-Gutierrez – that killed Ms Hutchins were co-operating with police.

“If the sheriff’s office determines a crime has occurred, and a probable cause exists, an arrest or arrests will be made and possible charges filed … before turning it over to the DA,” Mr Mendoza added.

“The people who inspected or handled the firearm when it was loaded before it got to Mr Baldwin were interviewed,” he said.

“There are follow-up questions we need to do … to determine how that happened and if they should have known there was a live round in that firearm.”

Mr Mendoza said all 16 people who were in “close proximity” to the scene of the tragedy had been interviewed by authorities. But approximately 90 people were on set in total and more interviews needed to be conducted.

Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in “30 Rock,” “The Departed” and “The Hunt for Red October” along with impression of former President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” has described the killing as a “tragic accident.”

‘LIFE THREATENING’

An actor working on Rust when Baldwin fired a gun that accidentally killed Hutchins says

cast members openly discussed their fears that such a tragedy could happen on the set.

Ian A. Hudson told TMZ he was terrified acting in a scene where his outlaw character was gunned down by actors using real weapons, including 20 pistols and two rifles.

“Everyone on the camera crew was protected by shields – and the camera was protected by a shield,” he said, noting that only the lens could be seen poking through the shield.

“So that made me question me being in front of the camera and sort of in between all that fire.”

Hudson said the production was on a “rushed schedule” and described the experience as “terrifying”.

“I actually did feel the blanks hitting my face and my body. I could feel the wind from the shotgun being discharged,” he said.

“It was heavy. It was strong … It was life-threatening. It felt too surreal.”

A bouquet of flowers hangs on a barb wire near Bonanza Creek Ranch where actor Alec Baldwin accidentally killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a movie set in New Mexico. Picture: Mostafa Bassim Adly/Anadolu Agency.

“I would talk to my fellow cast members afterwards, and we all agreed how intense that was and how scary and real it was.”

The New Mexico local said past high profile tragedies that involved accidental shooting deaths on film sets had even been previously discussed by the crew.

“Brandon Lee having died in ’93 — that conversation came up a couple times between my fellow cast members and I,” he said, referring to Bruce Lee’s actor son who was shot dead in an eerily similar accident on the set of “The Crow”.

“Just, you know — we’re doing this the same way they did it then, 30 years ago,” he said.

Hudson said that he “held his tongue” over a lot of his concerns because he is a “new actor” who didn’t “want to cause trouble.”

“But some of the other actors … were double- and triple-checking our weapons after the armourer gave them to us, whether they were cold or hot,” he said.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that the director who reportedly handed Baldwin the weapon that killed Hutchins had been fired from a previous role over a firearms incident.

Dave Halls was an assistant director on the movie Freedom’s Path in 2019 when a gun “unexpectedly discharged,” injuring a sound crew member, the production company Rocket Soul Studios told CNN.

The crew member sustained minor injuries and spent a few days away from work.

The assistant director “was very remorseful for the events, and understood the reasons he was being terminated,” the production company told CNN.

Halls was identified in an affidavit as the person who handed Baldwin the gun on the Rust set last week. Baldwin was told the gun was “cold” and was rehearsing when it fired and cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza wounded.

The film set Medic has told of the moment she realised a real-life tragedy was unfolding before the shocked cast and crew.

Cherlyn Schaefer heard a “loud shot” fill the air on the New Mexico set last week and immediately asked what was going on.

“Because fire in the hole was not called,” Ms Schaefer said in an injury report she filed after the shooting.

She then asked “are we rehearsing?” – before someone on set began frantically shouting about a “medic emergency”.

Ms Schaefer rushed to the set where Baldwin, 63, was rehearsing in a church building setting.

She ordered crew members to apply pressure to Hutchins’ bleeding torso and to call 911, as she checked the 42-year-old’s vital signs and gave her oxygen through a mask.

In her report, she wrote something “was shot from a prop gun” in the section that asked for detailed cause of the incident.

According to Souza’s witness statement, Baldwin was “practising” drawing the gun across his body – and pointing it “towards the camera lens” – when the weapon was fired, hitting Hutchins in the chest and wounding Souza.

“Joel stated that they had Alec sitting in a pew in a church building setting, and he was practising a cross draw,” the affidavit stated.

“Joel said he was looking over the shoulder of Halyna, when he heard what sounded like a whip and then loud pop. Joel then vaguely remembers (Hutchins) complaining about her stomach and grabbing her midsection.

“Joel also said (Hutchins) began to stumble backwards and she was assisted to the ground.

“Joel explained that he was bleeding from his shoulder and he could see blood on Halyna.”

The production’s chief electrician Serge Svetnoy has recounted holding Hutchins as she was bleeding to death at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico.

“I was holding her in my arms while she was dying,” Svetnoy told US publication Deadline.

In a post on Facebook, he wrote: “I was standing shoulder to shoulder with Halyna during this fatal shot that took her life and injured the director, Joel Souza”.

“I was holding her in my arms while she was dying. Her blood was on my hands.”

Svetnoy accused Rust’s producers of risking the crew’s lives. “To save a dime sometimes, you hire people who are not fully qualified for the complicated and dangerous job, and you risk the lives of the other people who are close and your lives as well,” he said.

Camera operator Reid Russell told investigators Baldwin was “trying to explain how he was going to draw out the firearm and where his arm would be at when the firearm was pulled from the holster.”

His affidavit said he “was not sure why the firearm was discharged and just remembered the loud bang from the firearm”.

When asked how Baldwin handled the firearm, Russell told investigators the actor “had been very careful” and recalled an earlier instance when Baldwin “made sure it was safe and that a child wasn’t near him when they were discharging a firearm during that scene.”

The production company behind the movie, Rust Movie Productions, said it was investigating claims guns had misfired twice before on the set.

“Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down,” the company said in a statement.

In an e-mail to crew members, the company said production of the film was being halted but called it “a pause rather than an end.”

Originally published as Criminal charges ‘on the table’ in accidental deadly shooting by Alec Baldwin on Rust movie set