Actor Alec Baldwin faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his Western movie “Rust," but a prosecutor's resignation makes it unclear how the case will proceed.
New Mexico state lawmaker Andrea Reeb, a special prosecutor in the Rust investigations, resigned March 14 after Baldwin attorneys asked that she be disqualified. They claimed that Reeb could not legally exercise legislative and judicial power.
Hutchins, 42, was killed and director Joel Souza was wounded as Baldwin was rehearsing a scene with a gun. Both Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter on Jan. 31.
Baldwin has pleaded not guilty and Gutierrez-Reed intends to do the same, her attorneys have said.
Assistant director Dave Halls pleaded no contest on March 31 to negligent use of a deadly weapon and the unsafe handling of a firearm. He received a six-month suspended sentence unsupervised probation.
Halls will also be required to testify in all hearings involving any and all defendants in the case.
The shooting happened Oct. 21, 2021, at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, a film location near Santa Fe. "Rust" is a Western movie set in the 1880s with Baldwin, 63, as its star and producer.
In a one-hour interview with ABC Dec. 2, 2021, Baldwin told George Stephanopoulos that he did not pull the trigger.
"I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them. Never," Baldwin said. "Someone put a live bullet in a gun – a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property.”
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza identified the gun as a Long Colt .45 revolver and said a lead projectile was removed from Souza's shoulder. He said authorities had removed about 500 rounds of ammunition from the set, including "blanks, dummy rounds and what we suspect were live rounds," the Los Angeles Times reported.
As details emerge, here is what we know, based on news reports and court affidavits. All times are approximate.
6:30 a.m., Oct. 21, 2021
Souza, 48, told a detective that work usually started early in the morning but was delayed that day while a camera crew was found to replace a crew of six that had quit at 6:30 a.m.
The new crew prepares to shoot a scene inside a wooden church building. It'll be the first scene to be filmed after lunch. It's the 12th day of a 21-day shoot, reports the Los Angeles Times.
According to the affidavit, the prop gun, a revolver, is one of three laid out on a cart outside the church by Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, the armorer. In a movie production, an armorer is responsible for handling weapons used in a scene.
One of the guns is a plastic, non-functioning model, Mendoza said in the news conference. Another had its cylinder modified. The third was given to Baldwin.
Gutierrez-Reed later tells a detective that she checked the ammunition before lunch and made sure they were not live rounds. The guns and ammunition are then locked inside a safe on a prop truck on the set. Gutierrez-Reed says some ammunition was also left on the cart, unsecured, according to an affidavit.
Gutierrez-Reed also tells the detective that no live ammunition is ever kept on the set.
12:30 p.m.
Crew breaks for lunch.
1 p.m.
After lunch, a crew member takes the guns from the truck safe and gives them to Gutierrez-Reed, an affidavit says.
According to procedure, Souza says, Dave Halls, an assistant film director, checks the gun after the armorer, before he gives it to an actor. Souza does not know if the gun was checked after the lunch break.
Souza says no one is inspected for carrying ammunition on their person. Only the guns are examined to make sure they are not loaded with live ammunition.
Halls later tells a detective that Gutierrez-Reed showed him the gun before the rehearsal but can't recall if all the rounds were inspected.
Police estimate about 16 crew members are inside the church as production resumes. Halls takes the gun inside and gives it to Baldwin, who is sitting in a pew. Halls yells "cold gun" as he hands it to Baldwin, indicating the gun does not contain live ammunition.
1:50 p.m.
Baldwin begins rehearsing drawing the revolver in a cross-draw movement, in which he reaches across his body with his right hand to the gun that is holstered butt-forward on his left side. Baldwin then points the gun toward the camera that will film the scene.
Baldwin is practicing the draw when the gun is fired. Souza later says that he hears "a whipping noise, followed by a loud pop."
Hutchins, 42, a cinematographer, is struck. She clutches her midsection, stumbles backwards and is eased to the floor, according to the affidavit. A camera operator later tells police Hutchins says she can't feel her legs. She is treated by medics on the set.
Souza, who was standing beside Hutchins, is hit in the right shoulder. He's believed to have been hit by the same bullet that struck Hutchins, Mendoza said in the news conference.
2 p.m.
Sheriff's deputies respond to the set after a script supervisor calls 911 call to report the shooting.
Hutchins is taken by helicopter to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, where she is later pronounced dead.
After the shooting, Halls picks up the gun from the pew and gives it to Gutierrez-Reed, who opens it so they can look at the casings inside. She later hands it to deputies. Halls later says he did not know live rounds were in the gun, the affidavit says.
Souza is taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe, where he is treated.
Deputies seize a number of items, including three black revolvers, a large amount of ammunition, cameras and recording devices, and clothing worn by actors as part of the investigation.
Oct. 22
A Santa Fe County detective interviews Souza, who is released from the hospital on Oct. 22.
Oct. 24
The Santa Fe sheriff's office releases an affidavit containing details of the shooting.
Production pauses on “Rust,” the movie company announces. The death of Hutchins spurs union members to call for increased safety in movie productions.
Oct. 26
The BBC reports that Halls, the assistant director who handed the gun to Baldwin, had been fired from a 2019 movie production for violating gun safety procedures.
Gutierrez-Reed's landlady in Bullhead City, Arizona, tells Fox News she wants to evict the armorer because she "doesn’t want her living there anymore."
Oct. 27
Carmack-Altwies says at the news conference that Baldwin "is an active part of this investigation," and does not rule out charges being brought against the actor.
Sheriff's deputies continue to question witnesses.
Dec. 2
An interview with Baldwin by George Stephanopoulos is aired on ABC special. Baldwin says he did not pull the revolver's trigger and says he believes the gun was empty.
Feb. 15, 2022
Halyna Hutchins' family files a wrongful-death lawsuit in New Mexico against Baldwin and movie crew members and producers. The suit accuses them of reckless conduct and failing to follow industry gun standards.
Oct. 5
Baldwin and the Hutchins family agreed on an undisclosed settlement.
Oct. 27
The Santa Fe County sheriff's office delivers its report on the shooting to prosecutors.
Jan. 19, 2023
The district attorney and special prosecutor in Santa Fe announce that Baldwin will be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
One of the involuntary manslaughter charges will determine if there was underlying negligence. The second requires that there was more than simple negligence in Hutchins' death.
Both are fourth-degree felonies, punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine. The second charge includes a firearm enhancement penalty, punishable by a mandatory five-year jail sentence.
Jan. 31
Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed are officially charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Hutchins.
Feb. 21
Prosecutors drop firearm enhancement from one of the manslaughter charges against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed.
Feb. 23
Baldwin pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charge.
March 14
Andrea Reeb, special prosecutor in the Rust investigations, steps down, saying she did not want her dual positions as prosecutor and New Mexico state legislator to "cloud" the case. Baldwin attorneys had sought her removal because of her elected position.
Reeb was a candidate for the New Mexico House of Representatives when she was added to the prosecution team. Baldwin attorneys said she was using the prosecution to advance her political career. Reeb was elected to office.
March 31
Assistant director Dave Halls receives a suspended six-month jail sentence in his no-contest plea hearing in a New Mexico court.
- Joey Dillon, a union armorer in Los Angeles and an experienced gun handler in the entertainment industry, told USA TODAY about gun safety on movie sets.
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CONTRIBUTING Naledi Ushe and Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY
SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Associated Press; Santa Fe County magistrate court; PHOTOS Getty Images and Associated Press