Well-known actor, Alec Baldwin, 64, has been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the death of the film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. The armorer who loaded the gun, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, has also been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Ms. Hutchins was killed during a 2021 rehearsal for the western movie, "Rust". She was fatally struck by a live round of ammunition discharged from a prop gun held by Mr. Baldwin. He has long maintained that he did not pull the gun's trigger.
The postmortem investigation, signed by New Mexico's chief medical investigator, stated the cause of Ms. Hutchins' death as "gunshot wound of chest" and the manner of death is deemed "accident".
Prosecutors state that Mr. Baldwin had the responsibility of ensuring that the gun and its bullets were checked and that he should never have pointed it at anyone. “You should not point a gun at someone that you’re not willing to shoot,” the district attorney for Santa Fe County, Mary Carmack-Altwies, said in an interview. “That goes to basic safety standards.”
An FBI forensics report states the weapon could not be fired during FBI testing of its normal functioning without pulling the trigger while the gun was cocked. The report also noted the gun eventually malfunctioned during testing after internal parts fractured, which caused the gun to fire in the cocked position without pulling the trigger.
In a CNN interview in August, Mr. Baldwin pointed to Ms Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer and props assistant on the film, and assistant director Dave Halls, who handed him the gun. Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me,” Mr. Baldwin stated in a television interview last year.
In October 2022, the Hutchins family reached an undisclosed settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Baldwin and others involved in producing the film.The widower of Halyna Hutchins, Matthew Hutchins, says his wife's death was a “terrible accident”. Production on “Rust” is to resume this month with Matthew Hutchins joining as an executive producer on the film as part of the agreement.
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