Assistant director David Halls and armorer Hannah Gutierrez had a ritual on the set of Rust. Halls told MPs he would check the barrel of the cannon for obstructions, Gutierrez would turn the cylinder to check the revolver for ammunition, and – if it was found safe – he would say “cold cannon on set”.
But during a rehearsal in an old church on October 21, Halls couldn’t remember Gutierrez turning the cylinder and saying he didn’t check all the rounds in the Colt .45 revolver before handing it over to movie star Alec Baldwin for court records. Halls later told MPs that he should have checked.
When Baldwin pulled the trigger, authorities said a lead projectile had fired from the gun – this killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza on the set at Bonanza Creek Ranch outside of Santa Fe. Hall told MPs when checking the gun after seeing four “dummy” cases with a hole in the side and a fifth case without a hole.
“It was not a deliberate act,” Halls told MPs.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said during a news conference Wednesday morning that investigators recovered the lead projectile from Souza’s shoulder and found hundreds of rounds of ammunition on the set, including mock bullets, empty rounds and “live rounds”.
Mendoza said investigators suspect the round fired by Baldwin was a real one. No one was charged in the incident.
The press conference and a third warrant filed in the Santa Fe Magistrate Court on Wednesday shed light on the deadly shootings that have made national headlines and related the use of firearms in the film industry and concerns of Rust’s cast and crew Focus on security the set that led to the incident.
During the press conference, Mendoza said investigators had won “what we believe may be additional live rounds on the set”. He said evidence will be sent to the FBI crime lab for confirmation.
“This investigation is active so I will not comment on how they got there,” he said.
Baldwin was practicing a cross-draw when the shootout took place.
Mendoza said investigators collected about 600 pieces of evidence from the crime scene, including three firearms and about 500 rounds of ammunition – a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and the alleged live rounds.
“We believe we have in our possession the gun that was fired by Mr. Baldwin,” Mendoza said. “This is the gun we believe fired the bullet. We also believe that we have the used cartridge case from the bullet that was fired from the gun. “
One of the questions the sheriff’s office is trying to answer is whether the people who handled the gun prior to handing it over to Baldwin should have realized that the gun was unsafe.
“We wanted to find out how that happened and if they should know that there was a live round in that gun,” Mendoza said.
He stressed that his office was conducting a thorough and objective investigation.
“If during our investigation the sheriff’s office determines that a crime has occurred and there is a probable cause, an arrest or arrests will be made and charges will be made,” Mendoza said. “Otherwise we will close our investigation and forward the full investigation and evidence to the District Attorney for review.”
Prosecutor Mary Carmack-Altwies said it was too early to say if charges would be brought.
“If the facts and evidence and the law back up the charges, I will start the prosecution at this point,” she said.
Hutchins died in an Albuquerque hospital and Souza was briefly admitted to Santa Fe. Since filming, national news reports have detailed a litany of complaints from those on set, including multiple gun accidents and a camera crew leaving due to unsafe conditions and poor working conditions.
On Tuesday, The Wrap reported that hours before the fatal incident, the film crew had used the prop rifles – including those used in the filming – to fire sharp bullets at beer cans.
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