Featured Image Credit: Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office
Topics: Alec Baldwin
Aisha Nozari
Footage released by the Santa Fe county sheriff’s office has revealed Alec Baldwin’s first words to investigators after a prop gun he was holding discharged, resulting in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The incident took place on the New Mexico set of Rust in October last year and Joel Souza, director of the western movie, was also injured.
All police files associated with the ongoing investigation were released on Monday (25 April), including footage of Baldwin speaking to investigators in an interview room. You can watch the footage below:
Appearing on bodycam footage, the actor told them he felt ‘no recoil’ after the gun went off, adding: "When I shot the gun, away from the cameraman, I never aim the gun at the camera, I turned and I went like this [Baldwin makes a gun with his fingers].
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“And she was there. And the gun went off. And she just went right on the ground."
Aside from footage captured at the sheriff’s office, the newly-released files also include interviews with key witnesses - such as Baldwin, first assistant director David Halls and armourer Hanna Gutierrez Reed - at the scene.
Crime scene photos were also made available to the public at the beginning of the week, and in one video, captured shortly after Hutchins was shot, Baldwin can be heard asking for a cigarette and inquiring about Hutchins and Souza's conditions, Fox News reports.
Souza is also seen on film speaking to police from his hospital bed in the aftermath of the shooting and tells them he heard ‘a very loud bang’ before feeling like he’d ‘been kicked in the shoulder’.
“I was down on my ass and I look over and see the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with blood coming out of her back,” said Souza.
He added: “There was a bang that was louder than I ever heard come from a blank before.”
It was revealed earlier this month that a report into the on-set incident found the film’s production company, Rust Movie Productions, was aware firearm safety procedures weren’t being adhered to on set.
Bob Genoway, bureau chief for occupational safety, told the Associated Press: “What we had, based on our investigators’ findings, was a set of obvious hazards to employees regarding the use of firearms and management’s failure to act upon those obvious hazards.”
As a result of the findings, the production company was fined $136,793 (£104,810).
A spokesperson for Rust Movie Productions said they disagreed with the investigation's findings and planned to appeal.
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