The shooting death of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of “Rust” last year was an accident, New Mexico’s Office of Medical Investigator determined.
The medical 🍨investigator’s report, which was completed following an autopsy and a review of police repဣorts, was made public Monday by the Santé Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
Prosecutors have yet to determine if any charges should be filed in the case as they review the latest 🌳repor𒆙ts, including from the FBI on the revolver and ammunition that were collected after the shooting.
They🤪 are also awaiting cellphone data from Baldwin’s legal team.
The medical investigator’s ruling led Baldwin’s lawyers to argue their client should not face charges connected to the “tragic accident” that killed Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21. The film’s director, Joel Souza, was wounded in the shooting.
“This is the third time the New Mexico authorities have found that Alec Baldwin had no authority or knowledge of the allegedly unsafe conditions on the set, that he was told by th♛e person in char▨ge of safety on the set that the gun was ‘cold,’ and believed the gun was safe,” attorney Luke Nikas said in a statement.
The state’s medical investigator’s office explained theಌ shooting was accidental because there was an “absence of obvious intent to cause harm or death” and there was “no compelling 🗹demonstration” that the weapon was intentionally loaded with live rounds on set.
Baldwin told ABC News in December he pointed the gun at Hutchins after she instructed him to on the set of the Western film that Baldwin was also producing. He said the gun fired after he cocked it,ꦅ but denied pulling the trigger.
“Th🏅e trigger wasn🐭’t pulled,” he said. “I didn’t pull the trigger.”
But an FBI analysis of the revolver Baldwin held sugges✤ted the gun worked and would not have gone off unless it was fully cocke෴d and the trigger was pulled.
Nikas, Baldwin’s lawyer, “the FBI r𝔉eport is being misconstrued.”
“The gun fired in testing only one time — without having to pull the trigger — when the hammer was pulled back and the gun broke in two different places,” he said. “The FBI was unable to fire the gun in any prior test, even when pulling the trigger, because it was in such poor condition.”
Meanwhile, a representative for “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed told Fox News, “The newly released FBI report show the revolver was in good working order and that Baldwin had to have pulled the trigger to fire the revolver, directly contradicting his prior statements and those of Assistant Director [Dave] Halls, through his attorney, who also said Baldwin didn’t pull the trigger.”
Baldwin als🐬o said in the past the gun should not have been loaded during a rehearsal.
Ammunition seized from the🐠 film location were live rounds found in a cart and in the holster in the building where the shooting occurred. Blank and dummy cartridges were also found.
New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau had a long list of safety fꦦailures on set, including testimony that the production managers took little to no action to correct two misfires on set before the fatal shooting.
With Post wires
