Almost two months after the fatal shooting incident that took place on the set of Alec Baldwin’s Rust, New Mexico police have issued a search warrant for the actor’s phone to further the investigation.
The accidental shooting of a prop gun on the set of the low-budget Western killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on October 21, resulting in a lot of backlash and petitions to ban live firearms on set.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office’s search warrant called for the “seizure and search of the cellular phone” belonging to the actor. Baldwin had previously stated that he would co-operate with the authorities to help as much as he could.
According to the documents obtained by USA TODAY, the police had requested the phone from the actor and his attorney but were told to acquire a warrant.
With the investigation still ongoing, the police are seeking to conduct a “forensic download” of the phone to retrieve any information that might be relevant, including text messages, recent call lists, images, videos, calls, et cetera.
Baldwin had previously told investigators that he exchanged emails with the film’s armorer Hanna Gutierrez Reed in which they discussed different styles of guns they wanted to use on set. The actor had requested for a big gun, and they settled on a Colt revolver with a brown handle.
Baldwin’s revolver went off during film rehearsal, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. According to court documents, the actor said that he assumed the gun was empty as it was in rehearsal and was supposed to hold dummy rounds.
The Assistant Director, Dave Halls, who handed Baldwin the gun, was subpoenaed by District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid after avoiding various attempts to be interviewed by an Occupational Safety and Health probe. Halls had previously been fired from a production back in 2019 when a crew member suffered a minor injury where a gun was “unexpectedly discharged.”
The incident was the first time on set when Gutierrez-Reed didn’t directly hand the gun to Baldwin. Gutierrez-Reed’s veteran armorer father Thell Reed told ABC, “She would have re-checked that gun, and if there was a live round in there, she would have caught it.” He added that “she has been raised around gun safety since she was a little girl.”
Despite being asked to refrain from publicly speaking about the matter as the investigation is still ongoing, Baldwin has been ignoring this request recently. In a disturbingly sensationalized interview conducted by ABC News earlier this month, Baldwin commented,
Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me. Honest to God, if I felt that I was responsible, I might have killed myself if I thought I was responsible. And I don’t say that lightly.
In the same interview, Baldwin also spoke up about George Clooney’s comments on the incident, deeming them unnecessary. Besides Clooney, various filmmakers and actors have spoken up about gun-safely, mentioning triple-checking the prop guns each time they’re handled during production, namely Adam McKay, Scarlett Johansson, and Angelina Jolie. Additionally, Dwayne Johnson has even announced that his production company, Seven Bucks Productions, would only use rubber guns moving forward.
About Rust
Rust is a currently-suspended American movie written and directed by Joel Souza.
The movie is set in the 1880s and revolves around two “fugitives,” Harland Rust and his teenage grandson Lucas. Rust rescues Lucas from a death sentence for an accidental murder. The duo then run for their lives from a U.S. Marshall and a bounty hunter.
Rust has been on an indefinite hiatus after a prop firearm accident killed the Head of Photography Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Souza. It stars Alec Baldwin, Jensen Ackles, Travis Fimmel, and Frances Fisher.
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