A bombshell report by the FBI has concluded that actor Alec Baldwin fired the gun on the set of the movie “Rust” killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The gun that fired the fatal bullet in the killing on the New Mexico set on October 21 could not be manipulated to fire without a pull of the trigger, according to an FBI forensic report that ABC News was able to obtain.
Baldwin, the star and producer of “Rust” after the incident, claimed that he believed he was handling a “cold gun” without live ammunition when it went off and a live bullet hit Hutchins, killing her. Joel Souza, the film’s director was also wounded in the incident.
Baldwin also claimed he didn’t discharge the weapon in a December 2017 interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
“The trigger wasn’t pulled,” he said. “I didn’t pull the trigger.”
The report and other FBI records connected to the incident were delivered to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office which is heading the homicide investigation earlier this month.
Recall that in October 2021, news broke of Alec Baldwin firing a gun on set of his new western flick “Rust” killing a cinematographer and wounding the film’s director on set in New Mexico, US.
The incident happened on the set of “Rust” in the southwestern US state, where Baldwin was playing the lead in the 19th-century western film.
Alec Baldwin is also being sued by a crew member over the fatal shooting.
The negligence suit also named armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, whose legal representatives had claimed that she was being “framed” for the death of Halyna Hutchins.
In the lawsuit, the movie’s chief lighting technician Serge Svetnoy stated that the accidental killing “was caused by the negligent acts and omissions” of lead actor and producer Baldwin and others.
“Simply put, there was no reason for a live bullet to be placed in that .45 Colt revolver or to be present anywhere on the ‘Rust’ set, and the presence of a bullet in a revolver posed a lethal threat to everyone in its vicinity,” the suit, submitted to a Los Angeles court, read.
The suit also alleged that “Baldwin, assistant director Dave Halls and Gutierrez-Reed did not follow film industry practice on the handling of weapons and “allowed a revolver loaded with live ammunition to be pointed at living persons.”
As Alec Baldwin rehearsed a scene onset of the 19th-century western where he fires a gun at the camera, Cinematographer Hutchins was shot and killed.
The Emmy-winner had been handed the gun by another crew member, Halls, who declared it “cold” — industry lingo for an inert weapon. Halls later told investigators he had not fully checked it.
The live bullet passed through Hutchins and hit director Joel Souza in the shoulder.
