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Alec Baldwin shooting: DA says they ‘do not know if charges will be filed’ after one shot dead on Rust movie set

Baldwin is ‘fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred’

Clémence Michallon
New York City
Friday 22 October 2021 16:48 EDT
Alec Baldwin releases statement on Rust movie set shooting

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Authorities say they do not know yet whether charges will be filed in the film set incident which left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead.

“This case is still in its preliminary states of investigation,” First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told Deadline on Friday.

She added: “We are assisting the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and have offered our full support to them. At this time, we do not know if charges will be filed. We will look into all facts and evidence of the case with great discretion and have further information at a later time. Our thoughts are with all affected by this tragedy.”

A spokesperson for Alec Baldwin told The Associated Press there was an accident involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks. A spokesman for the Santa Fe County sheriff said detectives were investigating what type of projectile was discharged and how. No immediate charges were filed.

Sheriff’s spokesman Juan Rios told AP detectives were at the set on Friday morning gathering evidence and information. Baldwin is permitted to travel, he said, calling the actor “a free man”.

Baldwin himself has expressed his “shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours”.

“I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family,” he said in a statement released on social media. “My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”

Director Joel Souza was also shot and wounded during the incident, which occurred on Thursday near Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“This investigation remains open and active,” Rios told AP in a statement.

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