Alec Baldwin speaks after filming on Oct. 21, 2021. Jim Weber (AP)
The Santa Fe, New Mexico, state attorney’s office has announced it will charge Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter over the Rust set tragedy. A bullet fired from a Baldwin-held Colt Model 45 revolver allegedly containing blanks accidentally killed Halyna Hutchins, the camerawoman, in October 2021. The bullet also injured the western’s director, Joel Souza. More than a year later, authorities are finalizing the details of the indictment in the case that rocked Hollywood. Prosecutors will also be filing the same criminal complaint against Production Chamber executive Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
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Santa Fe County Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced last September her intention to bring the case to the criminal courts. He then called on local government and lawmakers to double his office’s budget to run “four separate trials.” Carmack-Altwies asked for hundreds of thousands of dollars and appointed a special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, to prosecute. Both sign the document this Thursday, which confirms the criminal action against the filmmakers.
The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office was responsible for conducting the investigation related to the fatal incident, which took place at an old church on Bonanza Creek Ranch while Baldwin, 64, was rehearsing how to draw the gun. Across from him was Hutchins, 42, holding the camera. The photographer fell to the ground and started bleeding. The bullet that hit her also went into the director’s shoulder, who was standing behind the cameraman. The film crew immediately called 911, but Hutchins died during the airlift to the hospital.
A tragedy that could have been avoided
The document provided by investigators to the prosecutor’s office concludes that the tragedy was an accident that could have been avoided if the process of custody of the weapon had been regulated. At the scene of the shooting, police found boxes containing real bullets mixed with blanks. This is a serious violation of industry protocols that prohibit the presence of live ammunition while filming. As such, the agents focused on a handful of characters from the production, which was filmed on October 6, 2021 at the Santa Fe lot.
The prime suspects in the investigation are assistant director David Halls, who was the last man on the production to touch the gun before handing it over to Baldwin and who will plead guilty to negligent use of a firearm, according to The Wall Street Journal; and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the inexperienced person in charge of the armory during filming, who was identified by the experts because of her errors in the review logs.
Photo from the shoot of Rust, with Electrical Director Serge Svetnoy and DoP Halyna Hutchins.HANDOUT (AFP)
It was also brought to the attention of Seth Kenny, the owner of a gun shop in Albuquerque, who supplied the ammunition, and Sarah Zachary, who was responsible for the props used in the filming. However, both were waived from the charge by local prosecutors.
The members of the production attempted to dilute their responsibility for the October 21 events. Alec Baldwin said in his first interview after the incident that he never pulled the trigger and only drew the hammer on the gun. However, an FBI investigation confirmed the opposite, finding that the revolver went off: this caused the detonation.
Alec Baldwin, in a match at the United States Tennis Open in Flushing Meadows, New York, last September. JASON SZENES (EFE)
Multiple lawsuits have been filed in the nearly 15 months since the incident. The Hutchins family sued Baldwin for wrongful death, but the actor agreed with widower Matthew Hutchins that he drop the lawsuit against him. In return, Baldwin has named Hutchins executive producer on Rust, with whom he will receive an undisclosed share of profits once filming on the Western CVs wraps.
There is no exact date for the resumption of production in Rust. The film tells the story of a 13-year-old boy in late 19th-century Kansas who accidentally kills a rancher. The boy’s grandfather, Harland Rust (Baldwin), helps him escape from prison and flee through New Mexico, where he is wanted by authorities and other bounty hunters.
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