A .45-caliber Colt pistol used on the set of the film “Rust” was not thoroughly checked before being given to actor Alec Baldwin, who fired a live lead bullet in an accidental fatal shooting last week in New Mexico, according to officials and a new court filing.
New details about the incident emerged on Wednesday during a news conference by Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza and District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and in an affidavit filed by the sheriff’s department. Mendoza told reporters there was a complacent attitude toward safety on the set before last Thursday’s shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal.
Hannah Gutierrez, the crew member in charge of weapons on the set, told investigators she had checked guns there but found no “hot rounds” – apparently meaning live ammunition – before the shooting, according to the affidavit.
Dave Halls, the film’s assistant director, told investigators he “should have checked all” the rounds in the gun before handing it to Baldwin but had not done so, according to the affidavit. Authorities said previously that Baldwin was handed what he thought was a “cold,” or safe, gun by Halls, who took it from a cart used by Gutierrez.
“All options are on the table. … No one has been ruled out at this point,” Carmack-Altwies said of potential charges.
Gutierrez, whose job is formally called the film crew’s armorer, said ammunition was not secured on the set during a lunch break before the shooting, the affidavit showed. It quoted her as saying that firearms were secured inside a safe kept on a white truck during the break and that no live ammunition is ever kept on a movie set.
“Only a few people” had access to the safe and knew the combination to open it, Gutierrez said, according to the affidavit.
Authorities have collected 600 pieces of evidence including three firearms, 500 rounds of ammunition – some believed to be live bullets – and several pieces of clothing and accessories in the ongoing investigation, Mendoza said. Some evidence is being sent to an FBI crime lab for analysis, Mendoza added.
