Why were there live rounds on set? Did Alec Baldwin pull the trigger? The key questions that remain unanswered as prosecutors announce Rust shooting charges
- Alec Baldwin and gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed are charged
- Prosecutors have not addressed who brought the live bullets to the set
- They say Baldwin pulled the trigger, and so does the FBI
- The actor says they are wrong and that he only cocked the gun but didn’t fire it
Alec Baldwin and Rust gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed are charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of Halyna Hutchins.
But although prosecutors say they are responsible for the accidental death, two key questions remain unanswered; How did hot bullets end up on the film set in the first place? And did Alec Baldwin pull the trigger?
Why were there live bullets on the Rust set?
Baldwin received the gun from Assistant Director Dave Halls, who had received the gun from Gutierrez-Reed.
She’s always insisted that she wasn’t to blame and doesn’t know how a live round got mixed up with dummy rounds on set.
It remains unclear how they came to Bonanza Creek Ranch.
Actor Alec Baldwin was last seen in public on January 9th.
Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. Baldwin insisted she brought the live rounds to the set and was at fault
Seth Kenney, the prop shop owner who supplied the dummy rounds for Rust, had both live and dummy rounds in his shop.
He told police Gutierrez-Reed fired live rounds on set – but he didn’t say where she got the bullets from.
That’s the question Baldwin believes is the focus of the investigation. He’s always argued that whoever brought those rounds on set and mixed them up with dummies was to blame, and his fans agree.
Did Alec Baldwin pull the trigger or not?
Another key question that remains unresolved is whether Alec Baldwin pulled the gun trigger.
It was a prop gun and the plan was to load it with dummies.
The shooting happened while Baldwin was rehearsing, so he insists he didn’t pull the trigger.
He says he pulled the gun from its holster and pointed it in the face of Hutchins, director Joel Souza and the rest of the crew.
Crucially, he’s always claimed it was “cocked” – but says he didn’t fire it.
The gun Baldwin used in the Rust shoot. He faces five years in prison but insists he didn’t pull the trigger. Instead, he says the gun was cocked and spontaneously fired
The damning FBI report that said the gun could not be fired without pulling the trigger while cocked, Baldwin said
“The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger.
“I’m cocking the gun. I say, “Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?”
“And then I let go of the gun’s hammer and the gun goes off. I release the hammer of the gun, the gun goes off,” he said during a December interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
“So you never pulled the trigger?” asked Stephanopoulos.
“No no no no no. I would never point a gun at someone and pull a trigger.”
Those comments were undermined by an FBI report released in August that said it was impossible to fire the gun while cocked unless the trigger was pulled.
The same report states that it was possible for the gun to fire without the trigger being pulled when the gun was uncocked.
Baldwin’s attorneys, however, struck down that report. They said it was based on testing, which wasn’t extensive. They are expected to take that apart in the process.