Actor Alec Baldwin will be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust, prosecutors in Santa Fe, N.M. said on Thursday.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armourer for the movie, is accused with the same crime, according to a written statement from First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies.
Mr Baldwin had been rehearsing a scene for the Western film Rust when the shooting happened at a ranch near Sante Fe, New Mexico in October 2021.
The 42-year-old Hutchins died after a gun Baldwin was holding for a rehearsal fired a live round of ammunition into her chest, passing through and striking writer-director Joel Souza in the shoulder. The movie’s assistant director, Dave Halls, who was cited in sheriff’s reports as the person who handed the weapon to Baldwin and announced to the crew it was a “cold gun,” signed a plea bargain with the DA for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, accepting a suspended sentence and six months of probation.
A review of evidence in the case “clearly shows a pattern of criminal disregard for safety” on the film’s set, Reeb added.
Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, called the decision to file charges “a terrible miscarriage of justice” and a distortion of a tragedy.
The actor “relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds,” Nikas said in a statement to NPR. “We will fight these charges, and we will win.”
