(RightWing.org) – Actor Alec Baldwin will go on trial next month over the fatal shooting of a crew member on the set of “Rust.” He’s denying any responsibility for the killing, even claiming he didn’t pull the trigger of the revolver. However, the evidence is piling up that Baldwin played a big part in a dangerously casual attitude toward guns on the movie set.
On October 21, 2021, Baldwin was rehearsing a gunfight scene on the set near Santa Fe, New Mexico. During the rehearsal, a pistol he was holding went off, firing a live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza. The gun had been prepared by armorer Hannah Guiterrez-Reid, picked up by assistant director David Halls, and used by Baldwin.
None of them checked to ensure it was unloaded. Baldwin claims he didn’t pull the trigger, although gun expert and unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate Brandon Herrera tested an identical gun and showed that it’s impossible for it to fire without the trigger being operated.
Guiterrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March, and Halls pleaded guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon in January. Baldwin, who still denies any responsibility, goes on trial for manslaughter in July — and, ahead of the trial, more evidence of his unsafe use of guns is emerging.
At Guiterrez-Reed’s trial, the court saw outtakes from the filming of “Rust” that show Baldwin behaving dangerously. In one clip, Baldwin called for a scene to be filmed again, and shouted at the crew to hurry up — including the words “let’s reload… We should have two guns and both we’re reloading.”
In another clip, he uses a handgun, believed to be the Italian-made Colt Peacemaker replica that killed Hutchins, as a pointer. Guiterrez-Reed can be heard calling for everyone in front of the muzzle to get out of the way.
Now prosecutors say Baldwin also fired a blank round toward a crew member while pointing the revolver at them, and claim several outtakes show Baldwin with his finger on the trigger even when he wasn’t required to fire the gun in that scene. Gun expert Bryan Carpenter testified at Guiterrez-Reed’s trial that Baldwin was “mishandling” the pistol and that the way he rushed the crew to reload weapons was “not normal nor accepted.”
Finally, prosecutors say that when filming resumed after Hutchins’s death, Baldwin claimed he should be exempt from the newly strengthened gun safety rules.
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