DA to reveal possible charges in fatal shooting on set of Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ on Thursday

(SANTA FE, N.M.) — A decision on whether any charges will be filed in the 2021 fatal shooting on the New Mexico set of Alec Baldwin’s film “Rust” will be revealed on Thursday.

Santa Fe First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and special prosecutor Andrea Reeb will announce their decision at 9 a.m. local time on Thursday in a written statement shared with media, their office said.

“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,” Heather Brewer, spokesperson for the office of the First Judicial District Attorney, said in a statement Wednesday.

Carmack-Altwies’ office said in October she would conduct a “thorough review of the information and evidence to make a thoughtful, timely decision about whether to bring charges” following a yearlong sheriff’s investigation into the on-set shooting.

Halyna Hutchins, 42, was working as a cinematographer on the Western when she was shot and killed by the film’s star, Baldwin, during an accident while he was practicing using a Colt .45 revolver on set. Director Joel Souza was also injured in the shooting.

Souza reportedly told investigators that Baldwin was sitting in a pew in the area’s church practicing his cross draw, facing the camera and crew and pointing the revolver toward the camera lens, when the shooting occurred, according to a search warrant affidavit.

The film’s first assistant director, Dave Halls, had handed the gun to Baldwin while proclaiming “cold gun,” to let the crew know a gun with no live rounds was being used, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Hutchins was killed by a live round inside the gun, authorities said.

Questions have surrounded how live ammunition made it onto the set and into the prop gun and whether proper safety precautions were taken by crew members.

Halls reportedly told investigators that he didn’t know there were any live rounds in the gun when he gave it to Baldwin, according to a search warrant affidavit.

The attorney for “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was in charge of guns and ammunition on the set, has previously said that his client had no idea where the live rounds came from and was not in the church where the rehearsal was taking place.

The attorney, Jason Bowles has alleged that Gutierrez-Reed was not called inside the church to inspect the weapons before they were brought out and that Baldwin did not accept her offer to train him on the cross draw, a “dangerous” method of carrying a handgun that started in the Old West.

Longtime Hollywood armorer Thell Reed, the father of Gutierrez-Reed, reportedly told investigators that ammunition once in his possession “may match the ammunition found on the set of Rust,” according to an affidavit for a search warrant executed last year.

The warrant authorized the search of an Albuquerque prop house, PDQ Arm and Prop LLC, owned by Seth Kenney. Kenney reportedly told detectives that he was hired to supply “Rust” with guns, as well as dummy rounds and blanks, according to the search warrant affidavit.

Reed told investigators that he worked with Kenney on a set several weeks before the “Rust” shooting occurred, and that Kenney allegedly took “an ammo can” containing live rounds back with him to New Mexico, according to the affidavit.

Kenney has denied providing live ammunition to the set.

“It’s not a possibility that they came from PDQ or from myself personally,” Kenney told ABC News days after the shooting. “When we send dummy rounds out, they get individually rattle tested before they get sent out.”

Baldwin has previously said he doesn’t believe he will face any criminal charges in the accident.

“I’ve been told by people who are in the know, in terms of even inside the state, that it’s highly unlikely that I would be charged with anything criminally,” he told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in a interview weeks following the shooting.

The district attorney’s announcement comes after the family of Hutchins reached a settlement in its wrongful death lawsuit against the film’s producers, including Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions, LLC, in October.

Carmack-Altweis’ office had said that the settlement “will have no impact” on whether she files any charges.

The incident has also led to several lawsuits, including one filed by Baldwin alleging negligence of his crew members.

“Rust” is slated to resume filming in January with all of the principal actors and Souza back as director.

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