Actor Alec Baldwin says he thinks no one will be criminally charged in last year’s on-set shooting that killed a production team member for the unfinished movie “Rust.”
In a Saturday interview with CNN, Mr. Baldwin said he hired a private investigator to look into the incident in which a prop gun in the actor’s hand discharged and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza on Oct. 21.
Based on the investigator’s report, Mr. Baldwin said he believes that he, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed or assistant director Dave Halls will not be charged.
Ms. Gutierrez Reed was responsible for checking the weapons on set and making sure that the gun was “cold,” or did not contain live rounds. Mr. Halls handed the gun to Mr. Baldwin before the fatal shooting.
Prosecutors in Santa Fe, New Mexico, are awaiting the completion of the criminal investigation into the shooting before deciding to press charges.
That being said, Mr. Baldwin finds his role in Hutchins’ death to be minimal.
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“There are two people who didn’t do what they were supposed to do,” the actor told CNN, referring to Ms. Gutierrez Reed and Mr. Hall. “I’m not sitting there saying I want them to, you know, go to prison, or I want their lives to be hell. I don’t want that, but I want everybody to know that those are the two people that are responsible for what happened.”
An administrative complaint filed this month by the New Mexico environment department’s occupational health and safety bureau against the production company, Ms. Gutierrez Reed told Mr. Halls to let her know when Mr. Baldwin arrived so she could perform a safety check on his firearm.
The complaint says that the armorer walked away from the set expecting Mr. Halls to find Ms. Guiterrez Reed when the actor showed up. Mr. Halls wound up handing the revolver directly to Mr. Baldwin without checking with the set’s armorer.
Ms. Guiterrez Reed is alleging that the movie’s guns and ammunition supplier mixed live rounds in with dummy rounds in a lawsuit. The movie’s weapons supplier has asked a judge to dismiss the suit.
A recent FBI report found that the 45 Long Colt caliber F.LLI Pietta single-action revolver used by Mr. Baldwin on set would not and cannot fire without the trigger being pulled.
But the report noted that the gun malfunctioned during testing after internal parts fractured. That caused the gun to go off in the cocked position without pulling the trigger.
The FBI report also said that ammo cartridges found on set were not consistent with live ammo cartridges.
• Brad Matthews contributed to this report.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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