Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin has been charged with a fresh count of involuntary manslaughter over a fatal movie set shooting in October 2021.
A grand jury in New Mexico the actor. Previous charges against the Emmy award-winning actor were dropped last April, just two weeks before a criminal trial against him was due to begin.
Local prosecutors have since shared “additional facts” from forensic tests on the weapon used in the shooting. Attorneys for Mr Baldwin told the BBC: “We look forward to our day in court.”
The 65-year-old actor was practicing firing a Colt .45 pistol before filming a scene for Rust, an upcoming Western film shot near Santa Fe, in October 2021. However, the gun went off, fatally striking 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
The actor maintained he did not pull the trigger and only drew back the hammer of the pistol. He also argued he is not at fault for Ms Hutchins’ death because he did not know the weapon contained live rounds and because no live ammunition was supposed to be on set.
But special prosecutors in New Mexico said in October that they had commissioned forensic experts to reconstruct the weapon after it had been broken during FBI testing. They said doing so revealed that the incident could only have taken place if the trigger had been pulled.
