Alec Baldwin Rust Movie Shooting
Alec Baldwin on the set of 'Rust'

By Morgan Lee, AP

Law enforcement officials released a trove of video evidence Monday in the ongoing investigation of a fatal October shooting of a cinematographer by actor and producer Alec Baldwin on the set of a Western movie.

Data files released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office include lapel camera recordings taken by a commanding officer as he arrives at a film-set ranch where medics are attending to the wounded, with an evacuation helicopter whirring overhead. A search for the gun leads to the movie production’s armorer, who breaks down in tears.

Other videos show investigators as they debriefing Baldwin within hours of the fatal shooting, talking with him inside a compact office — and rehearsal clips that show Baldwin in costume as he practices a quick-draw maneuver with a gun.


Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said in a statement that the investigation by his agency remains open and ongoing as it awaits the results of ballistics and forensic analysis from the FBI as well as studies of fingerprint and DNA.

“The sheriff’s office is releasing all files associated with our ongoing investigation,” he said in the statement. Those files also include photos of ammunition from the set and examination reports.

At a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe on Oct. 21, 2021, Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when it went off, killing Hutchins and wounding the director, Joel Souza. They had been inside a small church during setup for filming a scene.


In a video taken by police later that day, Baldwin makes a few frantic calls as he awaits a meeting with law enforcement officials.

“You have no idea how unbelievable this is and how strange this is,” he says over the phone.


Under questioning by two investigators, Baldwin pieces together what happened as the gun went off, still apparently unaware that Hutchins would die and shocked to learn that he had been holding a gun loaded with live ammunition. Baldwin said the gun should have been empty for a rehearsal with no filming.

“I take the gun out slowly. I turn, I cock the pistol,” Baldwin says. “Bang, it goes off. She (Hutchins) hits the ground. She goes down. He (Souza) goes down screaming.”


Souza recounted his experience from a hospital emergency room, where he was treated for a bullet wound and questioned by investigators.

Souza described “a very loud bang, and then it felt like someone kicked me in the shoulder.” He knew Hutchins was wounded too and asked if she was OK.

In the Oct. 21 video, Baldwin repeatedly says there were no prior problems of any kind with firearms on the set of “Rust.”

Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in Santa Fe, N.M., after he was questioned about a shooting on the set of the film “Rust” on the outskirts of Santa Fe, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza, officials said. (Jim Weber/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)

Those statements conflict with more recent findings by state occupational safety regulators, who last week issued the maximum possible fine of nearly $137,000 against the “Rust” film production company.

New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau said Rust Movie Productions must pay $136,793, and distributed a scathing narrative of safety failures in violation of standard industry protocols, including testimony that production managers took limited or no action to address two misfires on set prior to the fatal shooting.

The bureau also documented gun safety complaints from crew members that went unheeded and said weapons specialists were not allowed to make decisions about additional safety training. Rust Movie Productions has indicated it will dispute the findings and sanction.

Baldwin said in a December interview with ABC News that he was on set pointing the gun at Hutchins at her instruction when it went off without his pulling the trigger.

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95 COMMENTS

  2. Funny, the multiple disclaimers about “I never pulled the trigger,” and yet the film clips of his multiple rehearsals for that scene show him drawing the pistol with his finger firmly planted on the trigger. I wonder if he kept it cocked in the holster, too?

    • It is hard to see, but you can see him cocking it on the draw, and then releasing the hammer before doing it again. I would love to hear it with sound though; that would tell a lot about whether he lowered the hammer of just pulled the trigger.

  3. No need to waste data on alec baldwin. I am sure the Investigation will find baldwin’s DNA shows he is incapable of dedicating himself to the safety of others.

  6. I really dont see this as Baldwins fault, its whomever handed him a loaded gunms fault.
    Sure If I hand you a gunm and say it’s not loaded you should make sure that it is indeed not loaded.
    But these are movie stars, there might even be a thing about messing with the props. For instance, the blombs are supposed to go off as you drive by, now is that actor/stuntman supposed to check every explosives position and charge weight then make adjustments. Of course not, he’s not an expert in pyrotechnics or demolitions. Just because an actor can twirl their six shooter doesn’t mean they know a thing about it.
    Baldwins isnt Jerry Mathers.

    • As executive producer Alec Baldwin IS responsible for what goes on in his production possum. Period…

      • Exactly. I agree with Possum that “he’s not an expert in pyrotechnics or demolitions”, which is why no one gave him pyrotechnics or demolitions, no one gave Sean Connery a real SSBN when they appeared together in “The Hunt for Red October“, and no one should have given Baldwin a real gun. He is liable as the executive producer, not the actor.

    • If we’d have left it to Beaver, she wouldn’t have gotten shot. Dennis the Menace is probably a different story, though.

      • Maybe Baldface, err Baldwin should have taken some of the NRA safety courses instead of joining up with fellow pretenders, err actors joining NoRA to let their fans know that they are the last word in what should be “allowed” with guns. If Sir Alec wasn’t such an insufferable prick he’d garner at least some sympathy. I’d like for him to do a gallows scene with his neck in the noose and safety just as lax as he gave gun handling.

    • I don’t place ALL of the blame on Baldwin. But the guy had his hand in hiring people, his hand in making sure the set was generally safe…. and he lied about having his finger on the trigger. We have the pictures and video that show he put his finger on the trigger.

      • He didn’t say his finger wasn’t on the trigger, he said he didn’t pull it. And he may not have consciously done so. It is easy to pull the trigger when pulling the hammer all the way back, as on an 1873 there is really no back pressure on the trigger at all when pulling the hammer back, only when the sear is engaged. And you have to pull the trigger in order to lower the hammer.

      • It would have helped if the armorer worked as an armorer and not as a general stage hand as well.

        Too many levels of fail in this incident.

    • Possum, someone loaded that live round into that gunm, moreover they loaded it into that gunm so as to be next up in the firing sequence. You know single action/loading gate six shootms quite well; tell me that if you were the one loading that pistola, round by single round, that you would be unaware of what you were loading; a live round or a blank purposely designed to NOT be mistaken for a live round. This was intentional. The only way that it could not be this assholes direct fault is if someone was trying (unimaginatively) to frame him. Otherwise he himself is guilty of murder as is his accomplice unless he somehow loaded the gunm himself, which I very much doubt. We are being asked to believe that not only did the exceedingly unlikely chain of events mentioned above, along with live ammo being somehow present on the set while filming/rehearsing, along with a lack of following established safety protocols even up to not having the properly qualified personnel in place all coincided with the one and only time Arec Bardwin, the Great Actor, (with decades long experience on sets involving all kinds of gunms and the safety protocols) did not pull the trigger while cocking it while not pointing it anyone cause he would, like, never do that. Ever. Well I guess now he knows the answer to his own recent question: “I wonder what it feels like to kill someone” (paraphrasing). Halyna Hutchins wasn’t accidentally killed… she was straight up murdered and most probably by Alec Baldwin. Even worse, being the entitled asshole that he is, it may have been for nothing more than shits n giggles.

      • Rider/Shooter,

        You omitted another important detail: his shot placement was fatal (apparently center mass) with what almost certainly had to be a simple lead round-nose bullet. For the uninitiated, simple lead round-nose bullets create very small wound channels. And while any bullet wound can obviously be fatal, the odds of a round-nose bullet causing a quick death is very low.

        So, in addition to all of the other very improbable chain of events, Baldwin managed to pull-off fatal shot placement–most likely with a bullet that creates relatively little wound trauma.

        Stacking up all of the highly improbable conditions for this fatality to be an “accident” is very hard to believe. Which is more likely? A string of improbable events produced an extremely improbable event? Or Baldwin decided to shoot his camera operator in an event with plausible deniability?

        Remember, we are talking about a douchebag who railed on his daughter with inexcusable verbal abuse. If he has that little regard for his own children, how much less regard would he have for a film technician? My opinion: the more likely explanation is that Baldwin opted for plausible deniability and intentionally shot his camera operator.

      • So true. Just the weight of a lead bulleted round is distinct from a blank.
        But if loading “dummy” rounds with lead bullet but no primer or struck primer or plastic dummy primer it’s all obvious from visual inspection. As the round is chambered you check visually to ensure it’s seated before rotating the cylinder. Hard to miss the distinction between these. What a clown show.

    • Marsupial One; my longass comment on your comment is currently “awaiting moderation” at the re-education camps. Again. Still. Because Freedom. And Liberty.

  7. They will come up with a plan to fine the production company and maybe baldwin personally. Maybe even some short time on paper.
    Then he will do some BS public service videos about anti gun “gun safety” and be the hero.

    • I think after killing a woman, lying about pulling the trigger, lying about his relationship with the woman, and lying about previous gun incidents on set…. it’s too late to make Baldwin look like any sort of hero.

    • Oooh. Yeah. And with somber music and lighting. It will all be anti gun. Cuz the gun killed her.
      Nobody rich is responsible.
      Bad, bad, gun.

  8. Baldwin is the producer. He is responsible for everything tbat happens on the set. He can delegate tasks but cannot delegate responsibility.

  9. Would a normal everyday person who’s not Alec Baldwin go to jail for this?

    Yes.

    So he should go to jail too just like everybody else.

  10. In the top clip, you can clearly see him (clumsily) cocking the revolver. I think he learned the motions and flinched when his thumb slipped off the hammer so he gripped the gun harder holding the trigger back, and boom! Clearly manslaughter/3rd degree homicide because there was obviously no intent, but the “I didn’t know the gun was loaded” when I pointed it at someone has always been a pathetic excuse for killing someone. Baldwin is a rather unlikable character but it is his actual actions that should send him to jail for this.

    https://youtu.be/fF8qQRL9WJk?t=20

    • guessing it was the b00m exclamation that got me moderated….ugg exclamation.

    • I’m going to use the word “set” instead of the usual one for operating a single-action revolver to avoid moderation hell.

      As far as I’m aware, if the hammer is pulled back to just before the half-set notch and released, it does not have enough force to fire a cartridge. However, if a very sensitive primer was used this may change.

      If the hammer is moved back any further it will move into the half-set notch which will lock the hammer from moving forward, the trigger, and the cylinder. The only allowed motion of the hammer is rearward to the full-set position.

      My speculation is the half-set notch was either worn or ground off to make the gun easier to “fan” for rapid fire.

  12. Is it coincidence that the cinematographer he offed was also working on a child trafficking documentary?

  13. he draws the gun, finger pressure on trigger and trigger pulled back, thumb goes back to hammer, gun fires.

    He had pressure on the trigger and cocked the hammer, for this gun in that case the gun would have fired. He did pull the trigger, he had already pulled the trigger drawing it, had it all the way back when he cocked the hammer with his thumb and let it go and it hit the round. He just didn’t pull it again for the gun to fire because he had already pulled it and had it pressed back which had already disengaged the hammer block/release mechanisms letting the hammer go forward and hit a round when he fanned it back with his thumb. This was the way the gun slingers of old fanned their guns, trigger held back and kept fanning the trigger, Baldwin just fanned the hammer with his thumb when he drew it.

  14. I’m about sick of all the BS. “The gun went off.” Utter nonsense. Baldwin picked up a gun, pulled the trigger, and shot someone. In my mind, that is pretty much the end of the story. When you get past all the he-said-she-said meaningless BS, Baldwin did not check and clear the firearm, so he was ultimately responsible. At the least, they should nail him with criminal negligence.

    • Pretty much my take as well. Any other J.Q. Public who shot someone, accidental or not, would be wearing orange and awaiting their trial.

      • You are correct and so is the person whose comment you are responding too.
        This investigation is a complete joke to anyone who even remotely has had a reasonable amount of experience with firearms and in particular, single action western style revolvers. We all know this is BS.

  15. My sister works in Hollywood as a union prop person. She and everyone she knows are livid at this situation. She has been trained and recieves annual union mandated training about the use of “guns” on set.
    There are strict safety protocols/meeings on the days when fire arms are used on set.
    The industry has been moving in the direction of using “dummy” guns and doing the flash and sound in post production. That technology is alreay in use.
    Today there is no reason to use “actual” fire arms in a show. Aternatives exist if productions are willing to spend the money for it.
    RUST was a low budget production and got low budget/trained crew as a result.
    Real Prop guns have been modified to not accept / chamber live ammo.
    This production saved a few bucks by renting an actual firarm that allowed the worst case sceario to unfold. It’s a cascade of best practice failures.

    • I’ve had some family work on movie sets too, westerns in fact. There were methods back then still used today. A dummy cartridge had no primer, a hole drilled thru the side of the case. There’d be a ball bearing in the case, and a bullet crimped in place. So in a revolver you see the bullet in the chamber when the camera looks to the business end of the gun. But check the rounds, they rattle and have holes in the sides and the primer pockets.

      Another thing was it may look to the audience like a gun is aimed at a person, but in truth a specific spot is picked for the actor to aim at which is safe. The camera angles and editing then making the finished product look real.

      I once heard John Wayne talk about that, very long time back. How just as you throw a movie punch real close so the camera makes it look real, you point guns in movies off to the sides where no one is. That was some interview he did like 70 years ago.

      Gun safety on a movie set is an old idea and highly refined now. Takes a real idiot to mess that up.

  16. I own two single action western revolvers and it is not possible for the firearm to go off without pulling the trigger. The only way you can fire those types of firearms is to either fully cock it and pull the trigger or hold the trigger down while cocking it to the cocking point and then releasing the hammer. Two important safety features to note. Once you start to cock the hammer back (without pulling the trigger back) the sear (hammer block mechanism) locks into place so if you released the hammer before fully cocking it the hammer is blocked from making any contact with the primer in a center fire bullet. Second, unless the hammer is fully cocked or at the full cocked position the cylinder that holds the bullet and aligns it with the barrel of the gun and the hammer cannot do so and therefore you cannot fire the gun. This investigation is a total joke. There is not one article claiming the firearm was defective and if that is in fact the case it has never been remotely mentioned and would take about one minute for any experienced gun user to check it out and confirm it was functional. You cannot duplicate Baldwin’s excuse and I tried on two separate firearms. Furthermore, in any police shootings it has not taken 5 months for investigators to make public preliminary findings in cases as cut and dry as this one. So you can be sure the Leftist Government in New Mexico is using every stalling tactic at its disposal to protect one of its own, Leftist Alex Baldwin, from being indicted. While it is true that others are culpable, the person holding the gun and using it is ultimately responsible. Period.

  17. If your hand held the gun when the shot was fired, you are responsible for where the bullet went and the harm it did. Period End of Story!

    There are other parties to this tragedy. Hearing in the news that the film company allowed only 8 hours of paid work to the armorer and never called for the armorer to be on set at times that guns were out. That’s just one of a long list of cheapskate, penny pinching safety violations.

    As Baldwin was a “Producer” on the film, he’s responsible for those safety violations too.

  20. If your hand held the gun when the shot was fired, you are responsible for where the bullet went and the harm it did. Period End of Story!

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  36. I seriously think If we’d have left it to Beaver, she wouldn’t have gotten shot. Dennis the Menace is probably a different story, though.

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