Alec Baldwin ‘not off the hook’ for charges over deadly ‘Rust’ shooting: sheriff
Alec Baldwin is still “not off the hook” from criminal charges nearly six months after he accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, tꦦhe sheriff leading the investigation warned Tuesdayꦐ.
“It’s too early to rule anything out right now,” Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza told the “Today” show Tuesday of the massive, ongoing investigation into the Oct. 21 shooting on the New Mexico set of “Rust.”
“I don’t think anybody’s off the hook when it comes to criminal charges,” he stressed.
“I’ve said this before: I think there was complacency on the set. There was disorganization and a degree of negligence — whether that rises to a criminal level, that will be up to the district attorney,” he said.
The sheriff confirmed that there was still the possibility of criminal liability for Baldwin, 64, when asked about the actor’s insistence that he was not responsible, desp꧑ite being the one holding the gun when the fatal sh𓂃ot was fired.
“Whether he’s responsible or not, will be up to the district attorney’s office,” Mendoza insisted.
Mendoza — whose office released a trove of videos and documents Monday — said that investigators and prosecutors were still going through a “tremendous amount of information,” with more awaited.
“The investigative case right now is 200 plus pages, so there is a lot of information.
“We’re still waiting on the forensics from the FBI Crime Lab, along with the final report from the office of the medical investigator, and there’s a few things that we have to shore up with the investigation,” he said.
He also said that his team has yet to determine exactly how a live bullet ended up on set — while noting a “concerning” text message from rookie armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed trying to get live bullets on an earlier set.
“Right now, no one’s come forward and admitted it to bringing the live rounds onto the movie set,” Mendoza told “Today.”
However, “there was information from text messages that was concerning based on the fact that live ammo was spoken about and was possibly used on a prior movie set.
“That was just a few months before the rust movie set and production began, so that is concerning,” he said.
