Alec Baldwin to be charged in fatal ‘Rust’ shooting

As a prosecutor pursues involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin and the armorer from the set of the film “Rust,” the tragic on-set shooting has renewed discussions about safety in Hollywood productions.

The death of 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins is the latest on-set tragedy for an industry that strives for safety while also portraying action-packed stories.

There have been multiple cases of crew members and stunt people dying at work, including a woman who died performing stunts on the set of “Deadpool 2” in 2017.

Cast members have also died from accidents during production including:

Brandon Lee

The son of the renowned martial arts master and actor Bruce Lee, the 28-year-old was filming the final scenes of the movie “The Crow” when he died after being shot with a prop gun in 1993.

Dummy bullets had been replaced with cardboard wadding, but a bullet fragment had broken off and remained in the gun. That metal tip from the dummy bullet hit Lee’s abdomen.

Lee’s family released a statement following Hutchins death.

“Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on ‘Rust,’” the statement read. “No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period.”

Jon-Erik Hexum

Jon-Erik Hexum became famous in 1982 after snagging the lead role of Phineas Bogg in the NBC series “Voyagers!”

The tall and strikingly handsome actor was a rising star and soon cast to play Mac Harper, a CIA operative posing as a male model in the TV series “Cover Up.”

While filming, Hexum reportedly was playing around with a prop gun from a scene and shot himself in the head.

Vic Morrow

Victor Morrow was tragically killed while filming “Twilight Zone: The Movie” in 1982.

The actor and two child actors, 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were being filmed fleeing from a Vietnamese village during the Vietnam war while a US Army helicopter hovered over them.

The chopper crashed following a pyrotechnic explosion, landing on Morrow, 53, and the children, who also died.

The film’s director, the pilot and three others were charged with involuntary manslaughter. They were all acquitted following a high-profile trial that lasted almost nine months.

Lisa Torraco, the attorney of assistant director Dave Halls, released the following statement Thursday.

“Absent no charges at all, this is the best outcome for Mr. Halls and the case,” Torraco said. “He can now put this matter behind him and allow the focus of this tragedy to be on the shooting victims and changing the industry so this type of accident will never happen again.”

Halls, who handed the gun to Alec Baldwin before the fatal shooting, signed a plea agreement “for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon,” the district attorney’s office announced Thursday. Prosecutors said the terms of that deal include six months of probation and a suspended sentence.

In October 2021, a group gathered to film on the set for the Old Western-style movie “Rust” at Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Fifteen months later, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is dead, director Joel Souza was injured and two people, including star actor Alec Baldwin, face criminal charges. Another has already agreed to a plea deal on a charge with no recommended prison time.

Here’s a look at the key people on the set of the movie when the fatal gunshot was fired:

Read more:

Prosecutors plan to charge actor Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter in the deadly 2021 “Rust” film shooting. Set armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed will also be charged.

If you haven’t been following the story, you can start by reading this timeline of how the on-set tragedy unfolded. And here’s a roundup of today’s major developments:

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said the “Rust” fatal shooting case is not clear-cut negligence and includes factual issues.

First of all, Honig said, New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN that she doesn’t know — and “we might not ever know” — how live rounds got onto the set.

“That’s a major factual issue. The defense lawyer is going to stand in front of a jury someday and say, ‘They want you to convict my client and they can’t even tell you how those live rounds got there,’” Honig told CNN’s Victor Blackwell and Alisyn Camerota.  

Secondly, the incident happened on a movie set, and “most normal people do not know what the norms are on a movie set,” he said.

So the expertise of prop masters are heavily relied upon, but even those experts have different views on what the obligations of actors and crew members are on set, Honig said.

“Remember, this is a criminal case. You need all 12 jurors to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. So I’m not saying that there’s no chance here, but this is a really difficult case for the prosecution,” he added.

Honig also said he was “stunned” that the district attorney decided to charge Alec Baldwin as both an actor and producer.

“The question about a producer — that gets into the questions of what exactly was Alec Baldwin’s job, what were his responsibilities as it relates to the many other directors, producers, professionals on that set — and look, sometimes people are producers in name … but are not actually in charge of things in a hands-on way,” he continued.

“All of these are complex factual issues. … This is not a civil proceeding. This is a criminal proceeding. There is the highest burden in our legal system on prosecutors. They have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and unanimously to the jury. It’s never easy, and I think it’s going to be particularly difficult here,” he added.

Actor Alec Baldwin and his legal team feel “blindsided” by today’s charges, his attorney Luke Nikas told CNN in a statement Thursday.

They were not given any indication Baldwin would face criminal charges and say they “learned of the charges in the media,” according to Nikas.

In her first televised interview after announcing the charging decisions, New Mexico’s First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN’s Josh Campbell her office was in “almost constant contact” with the opposing parties’ attorneys “for about the last six weeks.”

“They didn’t know exactly what was coming, but they were aware that we were contemplating charges and they were aware of what the contemplated charges were,” she said.

Earlier Thursday, Nikas said the decision to charge “distorts Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice.”

“Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win,” Nikas said.

Many other actors have said they “always check their guns or have someone check it front of them,” New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN shortly after announcing her intention of charging actor Alec Baldwin and film armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed with involuntary manslaughter.

She noted that some of those actors were even “A-list” celebrities.

“Every person that handles a gun has a duty to make sure that if they’re going to handle that gun, point it at someone and pull the trigger that it is not going to fire a projectile and kill someone,” she said.

“An actor does not get a free pass just because they are an actor. That is what is so important. We are saying here in New Mexico, that everyone is equal under the law,” she added.

Carmack-Altwies said there were live rounds mixed in with dummy rounds and crews were not checking ammunition regularly.

Somehow, a live round got loaded into the gun that was handed to Baldwin.

Baldwin failing to check the gun before firing it is a key piece of information that prosecutors are using to argue that he was negligent about the safety standard, Carmack-Altwies said. Negligence is an important part of the involuntary manslaughter charge, according to CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams.

Overall, there was a “lack of safety and safety standards on set,” the district attorney said.

The family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed on the “Rust” movie set, said they support the charges that are expected to be filed against actor Alec Baldwin and film armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed.

“It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law,” according to the statement.

Attorney Brian J. Panish, on behalf of the Hutchins family, issued the following statement:

“We want to thank the Santa Fe Sheriff and the District Attorney for concluding their thorough investigation and determining that charges for involuntary manslaughter are warranted for the killing of Halyna Hutchins with conscious disregard for human life. Our independent investigation also supports that charges are warranted. It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law. We support the charges, will fully cooperate with this prosecution, and fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law.”

The deadly shooting on the set of “Rust” in Santa Fe, New Mexico, took place in October 2021.

The film set shooting resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after she was struck by a live round of ammunition fired from a prop gun held by Alec Baldwin.

Here’s a look at the scene following the shooting:

The New Mexico district attorney who plans to charge actor Alec Baldwin and the “Rust” set armorer with involuntary manslaughter charges says the pair will not be arrested ahead of their first court appearances.

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said she will formally file the charges against Baldwin and the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, “before the end of this month.”

“We will not be asking for an arrest,” the district attorney told CNN’s Josh Campbell.

“We’ll send out what’s called a summons. From that, the court will set what’s called a first appearance, or, it’s basically an arraignment. And at that point they will either have to come here (to New Mexico) or they might do a video arraignment, we have been doing those since Covid, and they will get their conditions of release and enter not guilty pleas.”

The prosecutor told Campbell her office does not plan to charge anyone else in connection with the case.

Alec Baldwin had a responsibility on the set of “Rust” to check the gun he was holding, according to New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies.

“Every person that handles a gun has a duty to make sure, if they are going to handle that gun - point it at someone and pull the trigger – that it is not going to fire a projectile and kill someone, and this is really about justice for Halyna Hutchins,” she said to CNN’s Josh Campbell minutes after announcing charges in the case. 

Baldwin was both an actor and producer for the movie.

“He’s being charged as both. He was the actor that pulled the trigger, so certainly he’s charged as an actor, but also as a producer he also had a duty to make sure that the set was safe,” said Carmack-Altwies, noting that people on set had complained about the lax safety and there had been accidental misfires prior to this fatal incident.

“He should have been aware that safety was an issue on set and then as an actor that day, he should have checked that gun, checked those projectiles,” she said.

Shortly after announcing involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin and “Rust” film armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies outlined why the deadly on-set shooting could result in criminal charges regardless of whether it was an accident.

“Just because it is an accident doesn’t mean that it’s not criminal,” Carmack-Altwies said in an interview with CNN.

“Our involuntary manslaughter statute covers unintentional killings, unintentional homicides,” the district attorney continued. “Unintentional means they didn’t mean to do it, they didn’t have the intent to kill, but it happened anyway — and it happened because of more than mere negligence, because they didn’t exercise due caution or circumspection, and that’s what happened here.”

Alec Baldwin’s attorney Luke Nikas said New Mexico prosecutors’ intention to charge the actor with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal “Rust” set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is a “terrible miscarriage of justice.”

“This decision distorts Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice. Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun – or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win,” Nikas said.

New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN why prosecutors believed there was probable cause to charge actor Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed with involuntary manslaughter in the deadly “Rust” movie set shooting.

There were a number of contributing factors to the decision, she told CNN’s Josh Campbell, including “a lack of safety and safety standards on that set, that there were live rounds on set; they were mixed in with regular dummy rounds.”

“Nobody was checking those, or least they weren’t checking them consistently. And then they somehow got loaded into a gun, handed off to Alec Baldwin; he didn’t check it, he didn’t do any of the things that he was supposed to do to make sure that he was safe or that anyone around him was safe. And then he pointed the gun at Halyna Hutchins and he pulled the trigger,” she said. 

“This was a really fast and loose set,” she said, “and … nobody was doing their job. There were three people, that if they had done their job that day, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened — and that’s David Halls and Hannah Gutierrez Reed and Alec Baldwin. If they had just done their basic duties, we wouldn’t be standing here.”

Assistant director Halls has signed a plea agreement for the charge of “negligent use of a deadly weapon.”

The attorney for “Rust” set armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed issued a statement condemning the decision to charge her with involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

“We were expecting the charges but they’re absolutely wrong as to Hannah - we expect that she will be found not guilty by a jury and she did not commit manslaughter,” attorney Jason Bowles told CNN in a statement. “She has been emotional about the tragedy but has committed no crime.”

CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams said prosectors decided to charge actor Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins due to negligence.

“I’m not surprised at all about these charges, and particularly if you separate Alec Baldwin the actor from Alec Baldwin the producer. It would have been hard to see him charged with a crime in his capacity as an actor here. But he’s being charged in effect as somebody who was responsible for what happened on the set. And what this involuntary manslaughter charge comes down to is negligence,” Williams told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. 

The law defines that “as duty of care that a reasonable person in a similar situation would have provided,” he said.

It requires prosecutors to review incidents that have happened on other movie sets, he said.

But Williams said “this wasn’t just a simple accident that happened on a movie set, at least according to the prosecutor, allegedly. What this is was such a failure from the leadership on the movie set that led to an incredibly tragic death.”

Assistant director David Halls has signed a plea agreement for the charge of “negligent use of a deadly weapon,” according to the New Mexico prosecutor who announced charges in the fatal “Rust” film set shooting Thursday.

The terms of that deal include six months of probation and a suspended sentence, according to a statement from New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies’ office.

The statement added that charges will not be filed against film director Joel Souza.

CNN has reached out for comment from actor Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who face involuntary manslaughter charges, and will reach out to Halls and Souza.

In addition to actor Alec Baldwin, “Rust” movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed will be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film’s set in 2021, according to prosecutors.

In March 2022, Gutierrez Reed said she was not called to inspect the gun that ultimately fired a live round and fatally wounded Hutchins. She issued the statement in response to a legal filing in which Baldwin said Hutchins told him to cock the gun.

“Mr. Baldwin knew that he could never point a firearm at crew members under any circumstances and had a duty of safety to his fellow crew members,” Gutierrez Reed said.

“Yet he did point the gun at Halyna before the fatal incident against all rules and common sense,” she added.

Prosecutors plan to charge actor Alec Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter in the deadly 2021 “Rust” film shooting.

“‘Rust’ actor and producer Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the film’s Santa Fe County set in 2021,” New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced in statement Thursday morning.

Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed will be “charged in the alternative” with two counts of manslaughter, meaning a jury will decide not only whether the two are guilty, but also under which legal definition of involuntary manslaughter.

In either case, a conviction is punishable by up to 18 months in jail and up to a $5,000 fine, according to the district attorney.

But one definition would involve a firearm enhancement, or added mandatory penalty, because a firearm was involved. In that case, the crime could be punishable by a mandatory five years in jail.

The district attorney said no charges will be filed specific to the non-fatal shooting of the film’s director, Joel Souza.

“After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the ‘Rust’ film crew,” Carmack-Altwies said in the statement. “On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice.”

CNN has reached out to Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed for comment.

In an interview with CNN in August 2022, actor Alec Baldwin placed responsibility for the tragedy on Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who served as the armorer and props assistant on the film, and assistant director Dave Halls, who handed him the gun. In November, Baldwin filed suit against the two and other individuals associated with the film, according to a cross-complaint obtained by CNN.

Through their respective attorneys, both Gutierrez Reed and Halls maintained they were not at fault and accused Baldwin of deflecting blame onto others. Gutierrez Reed also sued the movie’s gun and ammunition supplier and its founder – who deny wrongdoing – and alleged a cache of dummy ammunition was sold with live rounds mixed in.

In October 2022, the family of Halyna Hutchins — the film cinematographer who was struck and killed by a live round of ammunition fired from a prop gun — reached an undisclosed settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Baldwin and others involved in producing the film.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock (12637637k) Alec Baldwin Annual RFK Ripple of Hope Gala, Show, New York, USA - 09 Dec 2021

Related article Ten months after the 'Rust' shooting, Alec Baldwin says he still thinks about it every day | CNN

Prosecutors say they are ready to announce whether criminal charges will be filed over the 2021 fatal film set shooting of a cinematographer that involved actor Alec Baldwin and other members of the film’s production.

Mary Carmack-Altwies, district attorney for the state’s first judicial district, and special prosecutor Andrea Reeb will disclose their decision in a written statement Thursday morning, according to Carmack-Altwies’ office.

“Regardless of the District Attorney’s decision, the announcement will be a solemn occasion, made in a manner keeping with the office’s commitment to upholding the integrity of the judicial process and respecting the victim’s family,” said Heather Brewer, spokesperson for the office.

Film cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was struck and killed by a live round of ammunition fired from a prop gun being held by Baldwin, who maintains he did not pull the gun’s trigger. Director Joel Souza was also injured.

I the summary of the postmortem investigation into Hutchins’ death – which was formally signed by the New Mexico chief medical investigator – the cause of death is listed as “gunshot wound of chest,” and the manner of death is listed as an “accident.”

“Review of available law enforcement reports showed no compelling demonstration that the firearm was intentionally loaded with live ammunition on set. Based on all available information, including the absence of obvious intent to cause harm or death, the manner of death is best classified as accident,” the report concluded.

An FBI forensics report said the weapon could not be fired during FBI testing of its normal functioning without pulling the trigger while the gun was cocked. The report also noted the gun eventually malfunctioned during testing after internal parts fractured, which caused the gun to go off in the cocked position without pulling the trigger.

Matthew Hutchins, widower of Halyna Hutchins, described her death as a “terrible accident” in a statement at the time of the settlement. Production on “Rust” was to resume this month with Matthew Hutchins joining as an executive producer on the film as part of the agreement.