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What we know about the 'Rust' shooting: DA cites 'enormous amount of bullets' on the set

Following last week's fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of "Rust," investigators plan to discuss their initial findings Wednesday.

The news conference by Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza and District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies promises the first detailed public comments by investigators about the killing of 42-year-old Hutchins during a rehearsal at a New Mexico ranch.

Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said Tuesday criminal charges are still possible, but won't be filed any time soon.

“It’s probably weeks, if not months, of follow-up investigation that we’re going to need to get to the point of charging," she said in an interview with the New York Times, adding that investigators "haven't ruled out anything."

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“Everything at this point, including criminal charges, is on the table," she added.

According to Carmack-Altwies, the "antique-era" firearm Alec Baldwin discharged was a "legit gun." She also said there were an "enormous amount of bullets on this set" and that investigators are looking into what kind of ammunition was recovered.

According to court documents on Monday, authorities seized three black revolvers, ammunition boxes, a fanny pack with ammunition, several spent casings, two leather gun belts with holsters, articles of clothing and swabs of what were believed to be blood.

She added that this incident is one of the most unique cases to have happened in Santa Fe County, New Mexico.

“We have complex cases all the time,” she said. “But this kind of complex case, with these kinds of prominent people, no.”

No charges have been filed as the investigation continues. Here's everything else we know so far.

Could Alec Baldwin be charged? Who is liable in Halyna Hutchins' death? Legal experts weigh in

Director Joel Souza recalls graphic details of misfire

Joel Souza, the director of "Rust," has given the most complete explanation over what happened in Thursday's fatal shooting on the Western set that killed cinematographer Hutchins.

According to a Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office affidavit released Sunday, "Rust" star Baldwin, sitting in a church pew, was rehearsing drawing his weapon "and pointing his revolver towards the camera lens" during the church-setting rehearsal.

In Friday's interview with Detective Joel Cano, Souza said he was "concentrated on the monitors" standing beside Hutchins viewing the camera angle as they prepared for the first scene to be shot after a lunch break.

Souza said he heard what "sounded like a whip and then loud pop" and heard Hutchins "complaining about her stomach and grabbing her midsection."

Hutchins "began to stumble backwards and was assisted to the ground," Souza told police. Souza was bleeding from his own injury to the shoulder.

Souza told investigators that prior to Baldwin being handed the gun, assistant director Halls had described it as a "cold gun," an industry term for a weapon not containing ammunition. The film's director said there should "never be live rounds whatsoever near or around the film set."

He said that guns on set were checked first by the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, and checked again by Dave Halls, the assistant director, who would hand the firearms to the actor using them.

After the crew returned to the set after the lunch break, Souza said he was "not sure if the firearm was checked again."

Authorities seize three revolvers, ammunition

Reid Russel, a "Rust" cameraman, told investigators he had stepped away from set and, upon returning, "was not sure if the firearm had been checked due to his absence of five minutes."

Russel said that during the scene preparation, without video or audio being recorded, Baldwin tried to explain how "he was going to draw out the firearm and where his arm would be" after the gun was pulled from his holster.

Russel "just remembered the loud bang from the firearm."

The cameraman told investigators that Baldwin was "very careful" with the firearms onset. During one previous scene, Baldwin had been cautious to make sure a child actor was not nearby before discharging the gun for a scene, Russel said.

A distraught Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office in Santa Fe, N.M., after he was questioned about a shooting on the set of the film "Rust" on the outskirts of Santa Fe, Thursday, Oct. 21.
A distraught Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office in Santa Fe, N.M., after he was questioned about a shooting on the set of the film "Rust" on the outskirts of Santa Fe, Thursday, Oct. 21.

'Rust' production to 'pause at least until investigations are complete'

As legal investigations continue, the film's production will be on "pause," producers wrote Sunday in a letter to crew members, obtained by The Associated Press.

"As we go through this crisis, we have made the decision to wrap the set at least until the investigations are complete," the letter read. The producers called the hiatus a "pause rather than an end" to production, though more detail was not provided. The production company is also offering grief counseling.

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for the film for further comment.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office obtained a search warrant Friday so investigators could document the scene at the ranch outside Santa Fe where the shooting took place. They sought Baldwin’s blood-stained costume as evidence, as well as the weapon that was fired, other prop guns and ammunition, any footage that might exist and all cameras, memory cards, computers and related equipment necessary for production.

More: Gun safety protocols are rigid on film and TV sets. This 'should never have happened.'

Baldwin-narrated documentary postpones release

In the wake of the devastating events, the Alec Baldwin-narrated documentary "Flint: Who Can You Trust?" was postponed Monday, according to a release from British production company Montrose Pictures.

The documentary delving into the Flint, Michigan water crisis was scheduled to open in cities including Los Angeles and New York starting Friday, with a digital release slated for November. A Kickstarter campaign aimed to widen the release has also been paused.

"Out of the deepest respect for all those affected by this terrible tragedy, we feel now is not the time to release 'Flint: Who Can You Trust?' " director Anthony Baxter said in the statement, adding that the film will be repositioned "at a future date."

Assistant director Dave Halls unaware gun was loaded with live rounds, but allegedly had history of 'unsafe' practices

The shooting occurred around 1:50 p.m. local time on the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"According to investigators it appears that the scene being filmed involved the use of a prop firearm when it was discharged," a Thursday release from the sheriff's office said. "Detectives are investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged."

The gun was one of three that the film's armorer, Gutierrez, had set on a cart outside the wooden structure where a scene was being acted, according to the records. Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired.

Flowers were left on the sign for Bonanza Creek Ranch south of Santa Fe, the site of a shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Flowers were left on the sign for Bonanza Creek Ranch south of Santa Fe, the site of a shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Complaints had previously been made that Halls allowed unsafe practices on productions, according to a prop maker who worked with him on 2019's "Into the Dark" anthology series.

Maggie Goll, an IATSE Local 44 prop maker, said in a statement that she filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Hulu’s “Into the Dark” over concerns about Halls' behavior on the set. In an email Sunday to The Associated Press, Goll said that Halls disregarded safety protocols for weapons and pyrotechnics and tried to continue filming after a crew member had "slipped into a diabetic fugue state.”

During work on “Into the Dark,” she said, Halls didn't hold safety meetings and consistently failed to announce the presence of a firearm to the crew on the set, as is protocol. The assistant prop master admonished Halls several times for dismissing the actors and actresses before they had returned weapons to the props table, she said.

“The only reason the crew was made aware of a weapon’s presence was because the assistant prop master demanded Dave acknowledge and announce the situation each day,” she wrote. “To my knowledge, nothing was done after my complaints."

Goll said the tragic event should not have happened because there are "so many steps that you have to go through ... that the possibility of it even getting there should be impossible."

"This situation is not about Dave Halls. ... It’s in no way one person’s fault," Goll told AP. "It’s a bigger conversation about safety on set and what we are trying to achieve with that culture."

Halls has not returned phone calls or email messages seeking comment.

USA TODAY was unable to locate a representative for Halls or Gutierrez, whose social media accounts have been disabled.

The film’s script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, said she was standing next to Hutchins when she was shot.

“I ran out and called 911 and said ‘Bring everybody, send everybody,’ Mitchell told The Associated Press.

Mitchell said she and other crew members planned to attend a private memorial service Friday night in Santa Fe. “This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman," Mitchell said.

Who is Hannah Gutierrez?

Gutierrez was the armorer on duty when the incident occurred. According to court records, she set three guns on a cart before filming, one of which was the one that killed Hutchins.

After the shooting occurred Gutierrez, who also goes by Hannah Reed, removed a shell casing from the gun and turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.

Before working on the set of "Rust," Gutierrez experienced her first job as head armorer on the set of upcoming Nicolas Cage movie "The Old Way." She talked about her experience doing the job in September on an Arizona-based podcast "Voices of the West."

“I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready but doing it, like, it went really smoothly,” she said of the Montana-based film.

Gutierrez is the daughter of Thell Reed, a quick-draw exhibition shooter and gun coach for stars who worked on films such as “Tombstone” and “The Quick and the Dead,” according to his IMDB profile. Gutierrez said she grew up around guns and her father had been teaching her a little bit about firearms since she was a teenager.

Hundreds gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Saturday night, to remember cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who was killed on the set of 'Rust.'
Hundreds gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Saturday night, to remember cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who was killed on the set of 'Rust.'

Vigil honors Halyna Hutchins 'a leader among young female cinematographers'

At a candlelight vigil for Hutchins held on Saturday night in Albuquerque, International Cinematographers Guild president John Lindley told the crowd of several hundred who had gathered that the late cinematographer's husband wanted to be there, but couldn't. Matthew Hutchins, who spoke publicly for the first time Friday, asked Lindley to read a message from him:

"Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision," Matthew Hutchins wrote. "Our loss is enormous and we will need time to process our grief. The outpouring of sympathy from her many friends has been overwhelming. ... Please take time to remember her and we will all work together to honor her memory and emulate her determination and her creativity."

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 480 president Liz Pecos called Hutchins her "union sister" and “a leader among young female cinematographers.”

“We share the outrage and shock at her life being cut short in such a devastating way. Her death shouldn’t have happened,” Pecos said. “Everyone deserves to go to work knowing they’ll be able to return home safely. This has shaken all of us to the very core. May her memory be eternal and her life not lived in vain.”

Three film industry workers comfort one another during a candlelight vigil held to honor cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in Albuquerque, N.M., Saturday, Oct. 23.
Three film industry workers comfort one another during a candlelight vigil held to honor cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in Albuquerque, N.M., Saturday, Oct. 23.

Alec Baldwin deals with 'shock and sadness' of 'tragic' news

On Friday morning, Baldwin spoke out about the "tragic" news and confirmed he is "fully cooperating" with the ongoing investigation.

Baldwin, who is a producer on “Rust,” met Saturday with Hutchins’ husband and 9-year-old son at a hotel in Santa Fe where the actor had been staying during filming, according to AP. Baldwin and Hutchins’ husband can be seen embracing in a photo published by the New York Post. Another shows a defeated-looking Baldwin walking on the hotel grounds pushing a luggage cart.

"There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours," he said in a series of tweets Friday.

"I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family."

On Friday night, Baldwin shared a story from Variety with the headline, "Alec Baldwin Was Told Prop Gun Was Safe Before Fatal Shooting, Affidavit Says" on his Twitter account.

No immediate charges were filed, and sheriff’s spokesman Juan Rios said Baldwin was permitted to travel.

“He’s a free man,” Rios said.

A sign points out Bonanza Creek Ranch on Oct. 22 on County Road 45 south of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
A sign points out Bonanza Creek Ranch on Oct. 22 on County Road 45 south of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

How can a prop gun kill someone? How the Alec Baldwin tragedy was possible

'Rust' crew members had walked off set to protest working conditions

Seven crew members reportedly walked off the set of "Rust" in protest of working conditions hours before Hutchins was killed.

Souza told detectives they started work late on Thursday because a camera crew quit and they needed to bring in a new crew, according to the affidavit. Souza said that everyone was getting along and that he wasn't aware of any altercations. A camera crew member anonymously told The Associated Press that those working on the upcoming Western raised concerns about several problems, ranging from safety procedures to their housing accommodations. Rust Movie Productions did not answer AP's emails Friday and Saturday seeking comment.

The Los Angeles Times and Deadline reported that, hours before the fatal incident, members of the "Rust" camera crew walked off the job in protest and, per the LA Times, were replaced with nonunion crew members soon after. The outlets also noted at least two previous misfires on a prop gun on set days before.

In a statement to the outlet, Rust Movie Productions LLC said the “safety of our cast and crew is the top priority of Rust Productions and everyone associated with the company."

IATSE Local 44, a union of prop makers and other craft persons who work within the entertainment industry, sent an message to their members Thursday that was obtained by USA TODAY, confirming that no Local 44 members were on set at the time of the shooting.

On Thursday, an incident involving a prop gun discharged by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the movie "Rust" killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
On Thursday, an incident involving a prop gun discharged by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the movie "Rust" killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.

Who was killed by the prop gun?

Hutchins was airlifted to the hospital after being shot by Baldwin. She was later pronounced dead by medical personnel at University of New Mexico Hospital, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office. She was 42.

Born in Ukraine, Hutchins previously served as director of cinematography for the 2020 action film "Archenemy," starring Joe Manganiello, who paid tribute to the "absolutely incredible talent" on Thursday.

Director of Photography Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured on set while filming the movie "Rust" in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Oct. 21, 2021. The film's star and producer Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm that misfired while loaded with blanks. Hutchins and Souza were transported to a local hospital, where Hutchins was pronounced dead. Souza has since been released.

'My heart is broken': Alec Baldwin says he's 'fully cooperating' after deadly prop gun incident

"I was so lucky to have had @halynahutchins as my DP on Archenemy," he wrote on Instagram. "This is a horrible tragedy. My heart goes out to her family and especially to her son. I am so sad today for everyone who knew her and worked with her."

According to her website, she grew up on the Soviet base in the Arctic Circle and was “surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines.” She received a graduate degree in international journalism from Kyiv National University in Ukraine, worked on British documentary productions in Europe and graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory in 2015. She was named a “rising star” by American Cinematographer in 2019. Hutchins is survived by her husband, Matthew Hutchins, with whom she had a son.

'Horrifying': Halyna Hutchins killed after prop gun misfire; Joe Manganiello, more pay tribute

Who was injured?

The director, 48-year-old Joel Souza, was transported via ambulance to Christus St. Vincent’s hospital and later was released, according to his rep Matt DelPiano.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in a statement: "We are devastated by this tragic news. Our hearts go out to the family of Director of Photography Halyna Hutchins who has passed away and to Director Joel Souza who is injured and hospitalized."

Souza last directed 2019's "Crown Vic," a feature starring Bridget Moynahan and Thomas Jane that was also produced by Baldwin. His previous credits include 2015's "Ghost Squad" and 2017's "Break Night."

Has prop gun misfiring happened before?

There have been actors and crew members injured or killed on past movie sets like Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, who was shot to death on the set of "The Crow" in 1993. The gun was intended to have fired a blank, but an autopsy found a bullet lodged near his spine.

Earlier in 1984, Jon-Erik Hexum, 26, died after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun blank while pretending to play Russian roulette on the set of the TV series ″Cover Up.″

In response to Thursday's on-set incident, the official account of Brandon Lee – run by his sister, Shannon Lee – wrote: "Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on ‘Rust.’ No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period."

'Rust' shooting: Prop gun death at Alec Baldwin film isn't the first accident on a movie set

'No one should ever be killed' by prop: Alec Baldwin mishap surfaces Brandon Lee death

Will 'Rust' continue filming?

Filming for “Rust” was set to continue into early November, according to a news release from the New Mexico Film Office.

However, production has been halted amid the ongoing investigation, and "the safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority," according to reports.

“The entire cast and crew has been absolutely devastated by today’s tragedy, and we send our deepest condolences to Halyna’s family and loved ones," Rust Movie Productions LLC, said in a statement obtained by Deadline and the New York Times. "We have halted production on the film for an undetermined period of time and are fully cooperating with the Santa Fe Police Department’s investigation. We will be providing counseling services to everyone connected to the film as we work to process this awful event.”

What is the movie 'Rust' about?

The movie “Rust” is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to IMDb.com. The teen goes on the run with his long estranged grandfather (played by Baldwin) after he’s sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.

Contributing: Bryan Alexander, Rasha Ali, Charles Trepany, Laura Trujillo, Jenna Ryu, Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY, and The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alec Baldwin 'Rust' shooting: DA says criminal charges not ruled out