FBI release findings of Rust investigation after shooting of Halyna Hutchins
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released the findings of its investigation into the shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Alec Baldwin's film Rust.
The FBI concluded that the trigger on the firearm which killed Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins had to have been pulled.
Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin was immediately implicated in the incident, after it emerged that he was holding the gun at the time of the incident – allegedly believing it to be a prop gun.
According to an FBI report, which was published earlier this week and obtained by ABC News, the gun 'could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger'.
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The federal agency also confirm in the report that the gun was working, as the 'internal components were intact and functional'.
Baldwin, who was producing the Rust movie as well as starring in it, insisted in the immediate aftermath that he believed it be to be a 'cold gun' without ammunition.
"The trigger wasn't pulled," Baldwin told ABC's George Stephanopoulos in an interview last December.
"I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them. Never."
With the hammer in the quarter-cocked or half-cocked positions, the FBI report adds that the gun 'could not be made to fire' without someone pulling the trigger in a very deliberate way.
If the FBI's assertion proves to be correct, it would directly contradict many of Baldwin's statements on the tragic incident, which took place on October 21 last year in New Mexico.
As well as killing Hutchins, the gun is also believed to have wounded director Joel Souza, who managed to avoid serious injury.
The FBI came to their conclusion following a series of tests using the same model of gun that was used on set that day.
Further investigations into Baldwin's involvement hinges upon the FBI's findings, although Santa Fe investigators have already received a warrant to check the 64-year-old's phone records, nine.com.au reports.
The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator has already concluded that Hutchins' death was an accident, with their report being published earlier this week following the completion of the FBI's analysis.
In spite of the their conclusion, the family of Hutchins, who was just 42 years old when she died last year, are currently suing Baldwin for wrongful death.
As PBS report, at least three other lawsuits have been filed over the shooting, but this is the only suit that is directly tied to one of the two people shot.
The 'reckless conduct and cost-cutting measures' of Baldwin and the film’s producers 'led to the death of Halyna Hutchins', attorney Brian Pannish said back in February.
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Topics: Alec Baldwin, Crime, Film and TV, US News
Tom Fenton