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Alec Baldwin claims “every single person” on the set of “Rust” knows who to blame for the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Hutchins died when a gun Baldwin was holding fired while practicing a shot for the film “Rust” on the New Mexico movie set Oct. 21. The group had been rehearsing in a small church on the set.
“I know that every single person on the set of the film knows what happened, and the people who are talking loudest about what happened or speculating about what happened were not on the set of the film,” Baldwin told Chris Cuomo during an appearance on his podcast.
Baldwin called out specific media outlets for harping on the shooting, including the L.A. Times and The Hollywood Reporter.
FBI FORENSIC REPORT CONCLUDES ALEC BALDWIN PULLED TRIGGER ON ‘RUST’ SET
Alec Baldwin claims “every single person” knows who is to blame for the death of Halyna Hutchins in a new interview.
(instagram | AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
“They are talking on and on and on about what if this and what if that and have dined out on this and the thing that they have in common is nobody was there.”
“Everybody who were there, they know exactly what happened,” Baldwin concluded. “They know exactly who’s to blame.”
Baldwin has been named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Hutchins’ family along with two other lawsuits brought by crew members.
The wrongful death lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Halyna’s husband, Matthew Hutchins, and their son, Andros, named Baldwin and others who “are responsible for the safety on the set” and called out “reckless behavior and cost-cutting” that led to the death of Hutchins, according to Hutchins’ lawyer.
Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, assistant director David Halls, production companies and producers are also named in the lawsuit.
Matthew Hutchins’ attorneys interviewed witnesses before filing and created a video compiling evidence for the wrongful death lawsuit. In the video, shared at a previous press conference, Hutchins’ lawyers reiterated claims from crew members that the “Rust” set was unsafe. The lawsuit claimed Baldwin and the “Rust” crew and cast committed “major breaches” of safety on the set.
“I think it’s clear what happened,” lead attorney Brian Panish told reporters at the time. “Alec had the gun in his hand. He shot it. Halyna was killed.”
Baldwin explained during the new interview that he believes guns can fire without pulling the trigger by using a technique called “fanning.” The “30 Rock” actor claimed that if you pull the hammer back far enough while the gun is loaded with a live round, it would fire. He maintained that he did not pull the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchins.
“The man who is the principal safety officer of the set of the film declared the gun was safe when he handed it to me,” Baldwin said, seemingly referring to assistant director Dave Halls.
“The man who was the principal safety officer of the film declared in front of the entire assemblage, ‘This is a cold gun.’ Now, why did he say that if he didn’t know and hadn’t checked? The point is we were told everything was cool and you can relax and we are working with a gun that is safe to rehearse with.”
The actor later emphasized he did not know there was a live round in the gun.
“But he explained it to me effectively that that’s exactly what can happen if you pull a hammer back and let it go if there’s a live round,” he added, seemingly referring to Halls. “See, there’s only one question to ask here. Who put a live round in the gun?”
Baldwin previously claimed in a tell-all interview that he did not pull the trigger of the gun, however the claim has been questioned by gun experts and the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
“Guns don’t just go off,” Sheriff Adan Mendoza previously told Fox News Digital. “So whatever needs to happen to manipulate the firearm, he did that, and it was in his hands.”
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office released the FBI forensics report Monday that backed up Mendoza’s claim. The FBI conducted an accidental discharge test and determined the gun used in the fatal shooting of Hutchins “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger,” the report stated.
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Alec Baldwin maintained his claim that he did not pull the trigger of the gun when Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed on the set of “Rust.”
(Fox News Digital)
Gun experts also refuted the idea that Baldwin could have fired the gun without pulling the trigger in a previous interview with Fox News Digital. Weapons armorer Bryan W. Carpenter explained firing a revolver like the one Baldwin was reported to be holding without pulling the trigger would be “rare.”
“In order to make it fire, you have to put your thumb up onto the hammer, cock the hammer all the way back, and then as the hammer is completely cocked back, then you pull the trigger and then the gun fires,” Carpenter explained. “So that’s very important because that gun had to have two-step process to fire. It had to be cocked, and the trigger pulled to fire.”
Film and prop historian Michael Corrie previously explained to Fox News Digital that firing a revolver without pulling the trigger would require a “mechanical failure.”
“The hammer needs to be fully locked to the rear for the weapon to function,” Corrie said. “Which necessitates manual operation of the weapon.”
“Barring an as yet unknown mechanical failure, this weapon did not fire itself,” he stated, adding that: “For the hammer to travel forward at all, the trigger has to be depressed… unless some major mechanical failure takes place.”
Despite being named in multiple lawsuits, Baldwin does not believe that he will be found criminally responsible or civilly liable for the death of Hutchins despite being a producer of the “Rust” film.
“That’s a fact,” he said. “There are people who are managerial producers. They’re responsible for who gets hired, who doesn’t get hired.”
Baldwin clarified that he was a creative producer for the “Rust” film.
Ten months after the death of Hutchins, prosecutors have not made a decision on charges. The decision should come after the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department concludes its investigation into the matter.
The sheriff’s office has been waiting on the FBI forensics report and text messages from Baldwin’s phone – which were requested by the department in December.
“The District Attorney’s office has been working with Suffolk County PD, and Baldwin’s lawyer to acquire the phone records,” Mendoza said in a recent statement. “Once Suffolk County PD completes its agency assist and sends those records to New Mexico law enforcement, our detectives will need to then thoroughly review those phone records for evidentiary purposes.”
Alec Baldwin makes a gun with his fingers while speaking with investigators following the “Rust” movie shooting that left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead in October.
(Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office)
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The sheriff’s office also received the New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI) report. The report ruled the “Rust” shooting an accident.
“The critical report is the one from the medical examiner, who concluded that this was a tragic accident,” Baldwin attorney Luke Nikas told Fox News Digital. “This is the third time the New Mexico authorities have found that Alec Baldwin had no authority or knowledge of the allegedly unsafe conditions on the set, that he was told by the person in charge of safety on the set that the gun was ‘cold,’ and believed the gun was safe.”
Once the phone records are obtained, as well as the official OMI and forensic reports are reviewed, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s investigative case will be sent to the district attorney for review and ultimately final charging decisions.
Fox News Digital’s Janelle Ash contributed to this report.
