Alec Baldwin has not had much to say about what occurred on a movie set in New Mexico on October 21, when he fired a weapon, killing the film’s cinematographer and wounding the director.
But on Wednesday, Baldwin retweeted an article by The New York Times. “Before he handed a revolver that he had declared ‘cold’ to Alec Baldwin on the set of the film ‘Rust,’ Dave Halls, an assistant director, told a detective he should have inspected each round in each chamber, according to an affidavit. But he did not,” read the original tweet.
While the actor has not directly addressed the shooting, he had also previously retweeted a Variety article with the headline, “Alec Baldwin Was Told Prop Gun Was Safe Before Fatal Shooting, Affidavit Says.”
New details about the shooting came out on Wednesday when New Mexico authorities held a news conference and released a warrant that laid out what occurred.
“Dave Halls allegedly told investigators that typically he would ‘check the barrel for obstructions,’ and then armorer Hannah Reed-Gutierrez ‘opens the hatch and spins the drum,’ before he yells out ‘cold gun’ on set. But before the tragic Oct. 21 shooting, Hall said he ‘could only remember seeing three rounds’ of dummy bullets in the chamber,” The Daily Beast reported.
“He advised he should have checked all of them, but didn’t, and couldn’t recall if she spun the drum,” the warrant said, according to the Beast. “After the shooting, Halls said they opened up the gun and found four dummy rounds and one spent live round. ‘He advised he could only remember seeing at least four dummy casings with the hole in the side, and one without the hole,’ the warrant says. ‘He advised this round did not have the ‘cap’ on it and was just the casing. David advised the incident was not a deliberate act.'”
In the press conference, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said: “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 and possibly by the state of New Mexico, but I’ll leave that up to the industry and the state as to what those need to be.”
During the filming of “Rust,” Baldwin fired a gun he thought to be “cold,” meaning unloaded. The projectile hit cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died on the way to the hospital.
District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said it is too early to decide if criminal charges will be filed in the shooting.
“If the facts and evidence and law support charges, then I will initiate prosecution at that time,” she said, adding “we are not there yet.”
Said the sheriff: “The investigation will continue and if the Sheriff’s Office determines during our investigation that a crime has occurred and probable cause exists, an arrest or arrests will be made and charges will be filed.”
“Otherwise, we will complete our investigation and forward the complete investigation and evidence to the District Attorney for review,” Mendoza said, adding that more interviews will be conducted.