Santa Fe sheriff discusses ‘Rust’ film set shooting
SANTA FE, N.M. (NewsNation Now) — It’s been only a week since the catastrophic fatal shooting on the set of the Alec Baldwin film “Rust.” Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was wounded. Warrants have been executed, witnesses questioned, but as of yet no charges have been filed.
Armorer and firearms specialist Hannah Gutierrez Reed, assistant director Dave Halls and Alec Baldwin all instantly gave their accounts of what happened to authorities, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza.
“All three of them cooperated with the investigation and have been pretty immediate. Once we identified who was within the vicinity, and who may have been involved or had some responsibility, we transported them [to the station] and they gave initial statements,” Mendoza said.
In this investigation, he said, gunshot residue tests were done to determine who fired the weapon because the story of the shooting was widely corroborated on the set.
“[Baldwin] also admitted that he did fire the weapon,” Mendoza said. “So I don’t think there was any need to try to determine who actually acquired the weapon.”
There have been reports that there may have been reckless behavior with firearms on the set of “Rust” that may have included target practice. Mendoza said he has not been able to confirm that.
“That’s coming in from a lot of different sources from the media and different sources. So we’re trying to confirm that,” Mendoza said. “As I’ve said in the past, if there’s anybody that has information in reference to when that happened, where it happened, we would encourage them to contact the sheriff’s office.”
Mendoza confirmed Reed’s pockets were checked for live bullets but would not elaborate further.
“I’m not willing to confirm whether or not there were live bullets were found on her person. Again, there was live ammunition that we suspect that was found within the scene. And I’ll hold off from explaining exactly what those were found,” he said.