Nearly ten months have passed since actor Alec Baldwin’s toy pistol was fired on a film set in New Mexico, killing cameraman Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Now that the FBI’s forensic investigation is complete, the case has been transferred to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
On August 2, sheriff’s detectives received the FBI’s finished forensic findings on the October 21, 2021 shooting near Santa Fe that happened on the set of the film “Rust.”
According to a press release from the sheriff’s office, these FBI reports were promptly transmitted to the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI), which informed the sheriff’s office so that they too could conclude their investigation.
Wednesday was the day that the sheriff’s office got the official OMI reports.
The Suffolk County Police Department in New York, where Baldwin resides, is also assisting with the investigation and is attempting to collect, analyze, and release Baldwin’s phone records, according to the sheriff’s office. These records will soon be available.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza stated in a statement, “The district attorney’s office has been working with the Suffolk County Police Department and Baldwin’s attorney to get the phone data.” “Once the Suffolk County Police Department completes their agency assist and transmits these phone data to New Mexico law enforcement, our investigators will need to evaluate them extensively for evidentiary considerations,”
Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwie said in a statement earlier this month that her office will “begin the screening process and any required follow-up investigation” once it got the finished report from the sheriff’s office.
Carmack-Altwie stated, “My office has received portions of the Rust investigation from SFSO but is still awaiting the balance of supplemental reports, including but not limited to: FBI firearm and tool mark analyses, forensic testing on the firearm itself, the forensic download from Suffolk County PD of Mr. Baldwin’s phone, and the pathology report from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator.”
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Carmack-Altwie said that after she gets all required reports, she and her staff will decide on charges.
On the afternoon of October 21, 2021, a single live bullet shot by Baldwin from a Pietta Colt.45 revolver killed 42-year-old Hutchins and injured 48-year-old Souza.
According to a prior search warrant issued by sheriff’s detectives, 63-year-old Baldwin was seated on a wooden pew inside a church while practising unholstering his pretend pistol and aiming it at the camera before firing it. The attackers struck Hutchins in the chest and Souza in the shoulder.
Baldwin referred to the event as a “tragic accident.” Baldwin told ABC News in an emotional interview in December 2021 that he was unaware the rifle had a live ammunition. He said that he did not understand Hutchins was dead and Souza was wounded until hours after the incident.
Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office bodycam video published in April shows Baldwin holding the gun before to the event and Hutchins and Souza on the ground surrounded by first responders after being shot. Baldwin is also seen on the video explaining to two cops that he did not fire the trigger. He is shown telling the cops he does not know who loaded the firearm with a live bullet.