Police have released new video footage of Alec Baldwin rehearsing with a gun hours before the fatal on-set Rust shooting last October.
On Monday (25 April), it was reported that the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office had released audio and video evidence as part of the investigation into cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’s death after the imitation revolver Baldwin was holding discharged a live round on the New Mexico movie set. Director Joel D’Souza was also injured in the shooting.
The footage of Baldwin, which was taken before Hutchins’s death, shows him drawing a revolver and pointing it to the camera twice during a rehearsal.
In addition to the video clip, investigators also released their interviews with key witnesses and body cam footage from sheriff’s deputies who responded to the shooting at Bonanza Creek Ranch on 21 October.
The investigation records and materials were made public following several requests by media outlets, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Among these are text messages from Rust prop master Sarah Zachry sent three days after the shooting in which she claimed Baldwin preferred to use real props, including guns and knives, for filming.
“Alec never liked anything fake like guns and even the rubber knife,” Zachry wrote, adding, “He always wanted his real gun.
Another bit of video footage shows Baldwin being led into an interview room by investigators after the incident. During the interview, which lasted for over an hour, Baldwin makes a gun with his fingers several times.
At the end of it, the 30 Rock actor can be seen cradling his face.
Interviews with the film’s armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, assistant director David Halls, and weapons supplier Seth Kenney were also made public on Monday (25 April).
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said in a statement that “various components of the investigation remain outstanding” – such as the results of ballistics and forensic analysis from the FBI as well as studies of fingerprint and DNA – six months after the shooting occurred.
“Once these investigative components are provided to the sheriff’s office, we will be able to complete the investigation to forward it to the Santa Fe district attorney for review,” Sheriff Mendoza’s statement read.
While Baldwin has denied any wrongdoing and liability over the shooting, the family of 42-year-old Hutchins has sued him over the Ukrainian cinematographer’s wrongful death.
Last week, an investigation by New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau concluded that Rust Movie Productions knew safety procedures were not being followed during the filming of the western. Detailing a series of safety failures in violation with standard industry protocols, the state workplace regulator imposed a $139,793 (£107,076) fine on the production company.
