GETTING TO “THE TRUTH”

BY GRANT CRAWFORD grant@sfreporter.com

Hours after the deadly shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on the film set of Rust, a disheveled Alec Baldwin sat across from Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office investigators in a police interview room, questioning what had just happened in the old church at Bonanza Creek Ranch.

The video of actor and producer Baldwin’s first interview with authorities after the incident stands in stark contrast to the polished exchange he had with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in December, about a month after the fatal accident. As he speaks with detectives, Baldwin’s hair is unkempt and beard full; he’s seen wearing a plain blue T-shirt with the neckline stretched out. It was there he learned the shot that came from the prop gun he was holding killed Hutchins, 42.

Baldwin’s appearance was different in the two settings, but his story was the same.

“As I suspected, somebody put a live round in the gun,” Baldwin tells detectives. How the live bullet found its way into the prop firearm, he says he doesn’t know, but can’t imagine it was done deliberately.

It appears law enforcement is still trying to answer the same question. Sheriff Adan Mendoza, whose office on Monday released a massive cache of videos and documents from

Santa Fe County sheriff releases huge number of files on Rust criminal investigation; Baldwin questions procedures as crew members shift blame

Video from the set of Rust released on Monday shows actor and producer Alec Baldwin drawing a firearm during a rehearsal.

the scene of the incident, says he can’t complete his criminal investigation without outstanding ballistics and fingerprint analyses from the FBI, a finding on cause and manner of death from the state Office of the Medical Investigator and a review of Baldwin’s cell phone data by New York prosecutors.

Shortly after Mendoza’s announcement, First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, issued a release of her own, saying the sheriff’s department has turned over a portion of its investigation. Once her office receives the entire analysis and conducts a thorough review of all the evidence, “a criminal charging decision will be made,” Carmack-Altwies’ statement reads.

“Once these investigative components are provided to the sheriff’s office we will be able to complete the investigation to forward it to the Santa Fe District Attorney for review,” Mendoza says in his release.

Monday’s flurry of activity in the case comes on the heels of the New Mexico Environment Department’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau fining the production company $136,793— the maximum penalty allowed by the state. The environment department says the company was aware that firearms safety procedures were not being followed during the filming of Rust.

The environment department investigated alleged administrative violations—and a handful of lawsuits are focusing on alleged civil lawbreaking—as opposed to Mendoza’s probe, which involves potential crimes.

The sheriff’s office originally sent out the files around noon on Monday, but had to suspend its Dropbox account shortly afterward due to excessive traffic spurred by news organizations attempting to access them. The case has for half a year drawn heavy, international scrutiny in the news media.

The sheriff’s department eventually sorted out the tech issue, and the records revealed for the first time what Baldwin told law enforcement after the shooting—and what he said in private conversations with coworkers.

Baldwin definitively states that he was holding the revolver when it discharged.

“We’ve done this for two weeks and we did it the right way every day,” Baldwin tells

investigators in a video of his interview with Sheriff’s Det. Alexandra Hancock. Baldwin says Hutchins was telling him where to point the gun to set up a camera angle, and that he and everyone else believed it to be a “cold gun,” not meant to produce a flash or fire. “They were standing in a position they wouldn’t normally be in because they assumed it was an empty, cold gun…I draw the gun slowly and aim off camera, and there’s supposed to be nothing in there, so she’s not protecting herself,” Baldwin tells investigators. He says when he released his thumb from the hammer of the gun it went off, striking Hutchins in the armpit before hitting Souza in the shoulder. Rust Movie Productions, LLC is facing multiple civil suits, including a claim by Hutchins’ family in New Mexico’s First Judicial District Court, accusing Baldwin of breaching industry protocols. The film’s script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, filed a suit against Baldwin and the producers in Los Angeles County Superior Court, saying she suffered pain in her ears because she was standing only a few feet away when the gun went off. Chief lighting technician Serge Svetnoy also alleges the producers are at fault and responsible for his severe emotional distress in a Los Angeles County lawsuit. In text messages from December between Baldwin and Sarah Zachry, the production’s prop master, Baldwin wrote “they seem to be getting very close to the truth of what happened,” adding that private investigators had been hired and “they may get to the truth before the police do.” “There is too much riding on this for too many people,” Baldwin wrote to Zachry. Baldwin has denied any responsibility for the shooting and crew members have since placed the blame on COURTESY SANTA FE COUNTY SHERIFF one another. In text messages between Zachry and costume designer Terese Davis, Davis wrote that armorer Hannah GuiterrezReed “fucked up.” “She got someone killed,” Davis wrote. “And rather than take responsibility and face it, she’s trying to take everyone else down with her.” Attorneys for GutierrezReed have pushed back, though, saying she was never called into the church where the scene was taking place and that Baldwin

Shortly after the gunshot, the cast and crew were forced to empty the old church where a scene was to take place. Police labeled items as evidence. knew he wasn’t supposed to point a firearm at crew members.