Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot by actor Alec Baldwin while he rehearsed with what he believed to be a safe gun.
New bodycam footage shows the chaotic moment when officers arrived on the “Rust” film set after a gun went off in actor Alec Baldwin’s hand, killing the film’s cinematographer and injuring its director.
“32 Santa Fe one female shot in the chest, male shot in the stomach requesting air flight.”
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office released the video on Monday (April 25), which showed medics and officers tending to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and film director Joel Souza.
They are then brought out on stretchers and rushed into an ambulance.
Baldwin, who’s dressed as an Old West gunslinger, speaks with a police officer at the scene.
OFFICER: ”How’s it going sir, my understanding, you were in the room when the lady was shot?”
BALDWIN: “I was the one holding the gun…what do you need?” (flash)
BALDWIN: “She handed me an empty gun (inaudible)…everything was prepped”
42-year-old Hutchins was killed during filming in October when the revolver Baldwin was holding fired a live round that struck her in the chest and lodged in the shoulder of Souza.
Souza survived the gunshot wound.
“He’s (Film director Joel Souza) good, he’s got a broken shoulder blade.”
Baldwin was later questioned by police.
“What I’m curious about is what came out of that bullet that went through her (cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’s) body and into his (director Joel Souza’s) shoulder. (UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: That’s very powerful to do that.)
He told them the gun that went off in his hand was given to him by armorer, Hannah Gutierrez.
“She hands me the gun – I’m assuming she’s done it the right way as she has done the last two weeks. I put it in the holster, I pull it out slow – we’re rehearsing. We’re not filming anything. I pull it out slow, turn, cock the pistol – bang – it goes off, and she hits the ground. And then he starts screaming.”
Baldwin, who is also a producer on the film, has been named in several lawsuits filed in connection with Hutchins’ death, including one by her husband.
He denies responsibility for Hutchins’ death and says live rounds should never have been allowed onto the set of the Western film at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico.
“Somebody put a live round in the gun. If that’s a bullet that was pulled out his shoulder, then someone loaded a live round into the gun I was holding.”
The body camera footage also showed an initial conversation with Gutierrez, the film’s armorer.
Police said a formal decision on criminal charges would depend on further forensic work.
Baldwin said in his police statement that a “very important question” for Gutierrez is whether she ever co-mingled live rounds with theatrical rounds in her kit.
The state of New Mexico last week fined Rust Movie Productions the maximum amount possible, $137,000, for what it called “willful” safety lapses leading to the death of Hutchins.
