Alec Baldwin Shooting May Still Yield Criminal Charges - As 'Enormous Amount' Of Ammo Is Discovered On Set

Authorities are still sorting out what led to the shooting on the Rust set.

As we’ve been reporting, a lot of information has come to light about the unsafe conditions on the set of Rust which led to Alec Baldwin shooting director Joel Souza and cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, resulting in her death. While the picture about what went wrong has become clearer, law enforcement is still investigating who is responsible — and whether charges will be filed.

On Tuesday, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told the New York Times that they “haven’t ruled out anything” in that regard. She said:

“Everything at this point, including criminal charges, is on the table.”

However, she clarified that it would probably be “weeks, if not months, of follow-up investigation that we’re going to need to get to the point of charging.”

She described the weapon the actor handled that day as “an antique-era appropriate gun,” and despite being reported as a prop gun, it was “a legit gun.” Not only that, but she added:

“There were an enormous amount of bullets on this set, and we need to find out what kinds they were.”

Enormous amount of bullets?! Is that normal for a film set? It seems like there shouldn’t be ANY legit ammo near a prop gun!

The NYT further reported on the inventory of the set released by the sheriff’s office on Monday, which included “three revolvers, spent casings and ammunition — in boxes, loose and in a fanny pack.” According to a veteran Hollywood armorer interviewed by the outlet, the loose ammunition is a huge red flag and “raises questions about the organization of the armory department.”

A representative for the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office, Juan Rios, told the New York Post:

“There are a lot of things flying around on the internet and honestly if people have information, they need to bring it to us instead of going to whomever. Bring it to us so we can follow up and check into that because if you have valid information, we want it, but the only way we can check it out is if you tell us.”

He reiterated that the investigation would “be going on for a while” because of the amount of evidence, including a large number of witness interviews, to sort through. He explained:

“We need to be diligent to ensure the integrity of the investigation should there be charges ultimately filed that they are able to uphold those in court.”

The question is, will star and exec producer Alec be among those charged, if and when charges are indeed filed? Los Angeles trial attorney David Ring speculated to People that the 63-year-old won’t “have criminal culpability” as the person wielding the gun, but he may be “criminally liable” as a producer on an unsafe set. Ring added:

“He’s absolutely going to get named in any wrongful death lawsuit. You just have to show that there was negligence that led to the shooting, and it’s a much lower standard than a criminal case. Obviously there’s negligence [in this case] and it just depends on who was negligent. But ultimately the production company is in charge. It happened on their watch. … Anyone who should have been in charge is going to get named in a wrongful death lawsuit.”

This situation becomes more and more awful the more we discover about it. Whatever the investigation ultimately finds, we hope Halyna’s family gets the justice they deserve.

[Image via Today/YouTube & WENN/Instar]