New footage released on Monday showed the chaos on the Santa Fe, New Mexico, set of “Rust,” after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Actor Alec Baldwin was holding the gun that killed Hutchins and injured the movie’s director, Joel Souza. Souza survived after being hit in the shoulder.
The Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office released a trove of evidence — videos, photos and documents — on Monday afternoon that showed the moments immediately following the Oct. 21, 2021 shooting.
In one video, Baldwin approached a deputy working to tape off the scene.
“I’m the person that had the gun in the scene,” Baldwin told him.
In another, officials asked Baldwin if he’s “doing OK.”
“No, I’m not actually,” he replied. “I was the one holding the gun, yeah.”
“I’m happy to stay right here and do everything you need,” he said in another clip. “My hands are shaking.”
Photos of Baldwin from the scene show he was still in costume as he spoke to deputies. His boots were covered in dusty mud with a drop of blood and he was still wearing his hat.
Documents show Baldwin turned in the clothes he was wearing, which appeared to have blood on them, to investigators. Baldwin would later tell investigators that he believed the gun to be “cold,” or filled with dummy rounds. Documents show Baldwin recalled Hutchins falling to the ground and Souza starting to scream immediately afterward.
The videos also show paramedics rushing to save Hutchins as she laid on the floor of an old, single-room church.
Later, photos released by investigators showed that the pews had been shoved to the side and a few bloodied clothing items and gauze left behind on the floor.
In an interview with Souza the day after the shooting, the director told investigators that he had been standing next to Hutchins when it had happened.
He told investigators, according to the report, that the scene involved Baldwin sitting in a pew, pointing a revolver toward the camera lens.
The footage shot moments before Hutchins’ death, obtained from the camera and released on Monday, appeared to show Baldwin pulling the gun out.
The trove of evidence also contains a series of emails from crew members, raising serious safety concerns before the shooting. There are also messages from Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the movie’s armorer, to her supplier months earlier, asking for live ammunition for a different film.
“It’s a serious mistake, always ends in tears,” Seth Kenney, the supplier, responded.
In an interview with NBC News, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said those messages had given him pause.
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“I think it shows some behavior and some actions on different movie sets with some of the same people that were involved in the ‘Rust’ movie set,” he said, adding that’s potentially how live ammunition made its way on set.
In a report released Monday, an investigator who interacted with Gutierrez Reed said she was “very emotional and getting more agitated because of the incident,” immediately after the shooting.
“I advised Hanna she was not under arrest several times and put her in the rear of my unit with the passenger side rear door open but the vehicle locked,” the deputy noted.
A lawyer for Gutierrez Reed did not immediately respond to TODAY’s request for comment on Monday. In a previous statement following New Mexico workplace safety regulators’ decision to fine the production company $137,000 for firearms safety failures, her lawyer said that Gutierrez Reed “was not provided adequate time or resources to conduct her job effectively, despite her voiced concerns.”
“Critically, OSHA also determined that production failed to call Hannah in to perform her armorer duties and inspect the firearm right before its use in the impromptu scene with Baldwin,” the statement said. “As we have stated before, had anyone from Production called Hannah back into the church before the scene to consult with her, this tragedy would have been prevented.”
In a statement from his attorney Luke Nikas on Monday, Baldwin said he “welcomes” the investigation.
“The information that has been revealed by the authorities demonstrates, once again, that Mr. Baldwin acted responsibly and did not have control over any production issues that were identified in the OSHA report,” the statement said. “Additionally, the interviews and affidavits disclosed today continue to corroborate Mr. Baldwin’s description of the events—including an affidavit from the Detective stating that the cameraman, who was standing next to Ms. Hutchins and Mr. Souza at the time of the accident, confirmed that Mr. Baldwin was ‘very careful’ with guns on the set.”
No criminal charges have been filed in the incident. After the Santa Fe Sheriff’s finishes the criminal investigation, its findings will go directly to the district attorney.
