Investigators in New Mexico have released a video of their interview of actor Alec Baldwin conducted shortly after the deadly shooting on the set of his movie, Rust.
Alec Baldwin was brought in to face questions over his part in the accidental Oct. 21, 2021, shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the wounding of director Joel Souza. The shooting happened after Baldwin was handed a pistol as the crew rehearsed a scene they wanted to film.
In the video released Monday by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, Baldwin asks if he is being charged with anything and the officers tell him he is not. However, officers still go ahead and read Baldwin his Miranda rights ahead of their questions.
Baldwin was asked if he thought someone would put a live round in the pistol on purpose, and Baldwin answered, “I can’t imagine who would.”
“You have no idea how unbelievable this is and how strange this is,” Baldwin is heard saying. “I don’t want to be a public person. I’m the one holding a gun in my hand that everyone was supposed to have taken care of.”
Watch below:
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza added that the investigation into the shooting on the movie set is nowhere near being completed.
“Various components of the investigation remain outstanding including, FBI firearm and ballistic forensics along with DNA and latent fingerprint analysis, Office of the New Mexico Medical Examiner findings report, and the analysis of Mr. Alec Baldwin’s phone data extracted by Suffolk County (New York) Sheriff’s investigators,” Sheriff Mendoza said.
The gun Alec Baldwin was holding on the “Rust” set shooting. (Santa Fe County Sheriff)
A blood-soaked shirt from an injured cast member. (Santa Fe County Sheriff)
In the interview video, Baldwin explains how firearms were handled on the movie set and insists that he took it on trust that the movie armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, had properly prepared the firearm because she had been doing her job expertly all week during the filming.
On April 20, New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau hit Rust Movie Productions LLC and its management with a maximum $136,793 fine, saying its “willful and serious” violation of workplace safety procedures and “indifference” to safety measures resulted in an “avoidable” loss of life.
Prosecutors have not filed any charge against Baldwin, the film production, or armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed. However, authorities have also not ruled out possible charges. Still, both Reed and Baldwin are facing a number of civil suits brought by the family of Halyna Hutchins and members of the movie’s crew.
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