A crew member told investigators that he failed to check all of the rounds in the loaded gun that he handed to actor Alec Baldwin in the tragic shooting that killed a cinematographer.
Baldwin was rehearsing a scene last week from “Rust,” a film he had co-produced, written, and starred in as the lead actor. He shot Halyna Hutchins, 42, in the stomach, killing her, and wounding the film’s director, Joel Souza, 48.
In the first media briefing about the case by local law enforcement authorities, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said that assistant director David Halls made the shocking admission.
“The facts are clear – a weapon was handed to Mr Baldwin, the weapon is functional and fired a live round killing Ms. Hutchins and injuring Mr. Souza,” Mendoza said.
He went on to say that police were able to ascertain that Baldwin had fired a live round from a F.LLI Pietta Long Colt .45 caliber revolver.
“We believe that we have in our possession the firearm that was fired by Mr. Baldwin. This is the firearm we believe discharged the bullet,” Mendoza told reporters.
“We also believe we have the spent shell casing from the bullet that was fired from the gun,” he added. “We regard this specific spent casing and recovered projectile to be the live round that was fired from the revolver by Mr. Baldwin.”
Mendoza went on to say that police had seized about 500 rounds of ammunition from the set, among those being dummy rounds, blanks, and what investigators believe are live rounds.
“We have recovered what we believe to be possible, additional, live rounds on set,” the sheriff told reporters.
On Monday, it was reported that some members of the crew had been using the same gun for target practice the morning of the lethal and tragic shooting.
The sheriff acknowledged the report and said those claims were being actively investigated.
Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said that criminal charges were possible but that prosecutors had not decided whether to file them yet.
“I think there was some complacency on this set, and I think there are some safety issues that need to be addressed by the industry,” Mendoza concluded.
Here’s more about the newest developments in the case:
Gun fired by Alec Baldwin on ‘Rust’ set contained live round
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