BREAKING: Alec Baldwin Charged In On-Set Shooting Incident 

Alec Baldwin was criminally charged with involuntary manslaughter following his alleged killing of a cinematographer on the set of the film, Rust. As part of a scene being filmed, Baldwin fired a gun on set which was loaded with real ammunition and killed Halyna Hutchins. The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is responsible for the care and safety of all on-set weaponry and who was likely the individual to load and hand the gun to Baldwin (these details will be confirmed over the course of discovery and trial) was also charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Baldwin has never taken responsibility for any culpability in the killing of Hutchins despite being the person who allegedly pulled the trigger on the gun and killed her. Baldwin has unbelievably denied pulling the trigger but investigations showed that there is no way the gun could have fired without the trigger being pulled. Baldwin and his counsel have repeated that he did not know there was a real round of ammunition in the weapon and he had no reason to suspect there would be. Baldwin and his counsel believe the charges, though the lowest you can have for criminally taking a life, are a miscarriage of justice. They intend to fight the charges in court and it does not appear Baldwin intends to plead guilty despite the black-and-white undisputed fact of the body.

Investigators on the case found five additional live rounds of ammunition including some kept in the belt of a costume piece worn exclusively by Baldwin. What we do not yet know is who put the ammunition in the gun, who was the last person to have the gun alone or how the ammunition came to be on the set in the first place. What we do know is that it is a crime to shoot and kill a person for no reason. 

New Mexico’s special prosecutor was happy with the court’s decision to charge Baldwin as well as Gutierrez-Reed saying that if Baldwin had done his job (the implication being to check the weapon before firing) Hutchins would be alive. 

Justice for Hutchins will play out in the courts and Baldwin remains innocent until he is proven guilty. There are many questions still unanswered in this tragedy. Who brought the ammunition? Who is legally responsible for the safety of the weapon? Who had the gun alone last? Is a person legally responsible for shooting and killing someone no matter what other factors surround the events of that action?