Alec Baldwin charged with manslaughter in Rust shooting

Yesterday, New Mexico prosecutors announced plans to file felony criminal charges against actor Alec Baldwin and the armorer of the Western film Rust, where 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was accidentally shot and killed in October 2021.

🤔 What happened?... Authorities are accusing the movie's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, of loading a gun on set with a live round instead of a blank. Assistant director David Halls – who is pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge – incorrectly shouted “cold gun,” then gave the loaded single-action Colt .45 revolver to Baldwin before a scene rehearsal.

While preparing for the scene, Baldwin's gun discharged a live round, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

• Investigators said they weren’t able to discover how live rounds ended up on the set, and that this question likely won’t be answered. But there was a separate live-round incident on set the same week Hutchins was killed. In that instance, Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun was “cold.”

Baldwin has repeatedly denied pulling the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchins, including in a 2021 interview with ABC News, saying that he had started to cock the gun and released the hammer – though gun experts argue this would be essentially impossible. Last October, Baldwin and the Rust production team reached an undisclosed settlement in relation to a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the cinematographer’s family.

👀 Looking ahead… At the end of this month, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed will each be charged with involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum penalty of either 18 months or five years in prison. If a guilty verdict is delivered, the length of the sentence will ultimately depend on whether factors beyond “simple negligence” contributed to Hutchins’ death.