Actor Alec Baldwin has been receiving flak ever since the accidental shooting on the sets of the movie Rust, killing 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The tragedy unfolded during rehearsals when Baldwin fired a prop gun at the Bonanza Creek Ranch and shot Hutchins. She later succumbed to her injuries at a hospital. The media scrutiny over who is responsible for Halyna Hutchins' death doesn't seem to end anytime soon. In a new development, actor Alec Baldwin might face criminal charges in connection with the fatal accidental shooting, according to local prosecutors.
Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies informed the New York Times that criminal charges against actor Alec Baldwin have not been ruled out, adding that the firearm used was a 'legit' and 'antique-era appropriate gun', and not a prop. "It was a legit gun. It was an antique-era appropriate gun, " Carmack-Altwies said. According to the prosecutor, an "enormous amount of bullets" were found on the set and the discovery required an investigation into the nature of that ammunition.
Crew members used the same gun to shoot at beer cans hours before the incident
According to DailyMail, an insider informed that some crew members had taken several prop guns including the one used by Baldwin the morning of the incident, and went 'plinking'. It is an activity where people shoot at beer cans with live ammunition. The anonymous source told The Wrap that it was an 'unsanctioned' target practice.
The weapon was 'mishandled'
According to a search warrant executed by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's office last week, 24-year-old Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film's armorer, was the last person to handle the gun before the incident. Gutierrez-Reed reportedly left three weapons, including the one that killed Hutchins, unattended on a gray cart. It was afterward, the insider noted that several crew members took the weapons without the director's knowledge, and forgot to unload them later.
The film's head electrician, Serge Svetnoy even alleged that Gutierrez-Reed was 'too young to be doing her job'. "There is no way a twenty-four-year-old woman can be a professional with armory; there is no way that her more-or-less the same-aged friend from school, neighborhood, Instagram, or God knows where else, can be a professional in this field, " Svetnoy wrote in a Facebook post.
