Alec Baldwin and the Rust crew tried to parse what happened in the immediate aftermath of the on-set shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, with the actor expressing serious concern for the film’s cinematographer, as evidenced in newly released bodycam footage from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s office.
In the several hours-long footage obtained by Rolling Stone — which includes interviews with crew members as well as with distraught armorer Hannah Gutierrez — Baldwin asks, “How is she?” referring to Hutchins. An officer tells him that her “status is questionable.” As the actor sits somberly, someone on the crew tells the officer that they “cleared the gun” after the incident. “The one that fired, we don’t know. But all the other ones were proper,” the crew member said, meaning the firearms were loaded with blanks.
Another person approaches and asks Baldwin if he is all right. “No, I’m not all right. I’m worried about her,” the actor says, again referring to Hutchins. “What’s her situation?” He’s told that she has been shot in one shoulder and the bullet went through her other shoulder, “which is why it’s not good,” the man says. The men also discuss they believed a blank was loaded into the gun when the shooting occurred.
While on the Rust set last October, Baldwin shot and killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was also shot but survived. Last week, New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau issued the maximum possible fine — $137,000 — to the production company behind the film, determining it willfully failed to provide adequate safety precautions in connection to the shooting of Hutchins and injury of Souza.
Last month, Baldwin claimed in court that he’s contractually protected from financial liability in Hutchins’ death. Late last year, Baldwin spoke to ABC News and said he was instructed by the late cinematographer to point the weapon in her direction and that the gun went off without him pulling the trigger. The occupational safety report confirmed that the revolver was handed to Baldwin by an assistant director without checking with weapons specialists if it was loaded.