Santa Fe district attorney shuts down armorer lawyers' allegations of 'sabotage' on 'Rust' set

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza (L) looks on as Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies briefs the media on the "Rust" shooting investigation.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza (L) looks on as Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies briefs the media on the "Rust" shooting investigation.
  • The Santa Fe district attorney investigating the fatal "Rust" shooting has shut down allegations of "sabotage."
  • DA Mary Carmack-Altwies said authorities don't have "any proof" to back up what she called "conspiracy theories."
  • Lawyers for the film's armorer claimed without evidence that someone may have tried to "sabotage" the set by putting a live round in a box of dummy rounds.

The Santa Fe district attorney investigating the fatal shooting on the set of Alec Baldwin's latest movie "Rust" has shut down the "sabotage" allegations floated by attorneys for the film's armorer.

"I know that some defense attorneys have come up with conspiracy theories and have used the word 'sabotage,'" Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said during an interview that aired on ABC News' "Good Morning America" Wednesday, adding, "We do not have any proof."

When asked by reporter Kaylee Hartung if she believed "sabotage" was at all a possibility, Carmack-Altwies responded, "No."

Without providing any evidence, lawyers for the movie's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, claimed last week that someone may have put a live bullet into a box of "dummy" rounds on the New Mexico film set to "sabotage" the production.

"We're assuming somebody put the live round in that box, which if you think about that, the person who put the live round in that box of dummy rounds had to have the purpose of sabotaging this set," Gutierrez-Reed's lawyer, Jason Bowles, previously said on the "Today" show.

Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza on the Bonanza Creek Ranch set while rehearsing a scene for the indie Western on October 21.

The Colt .45 revolver that Baldwin fired was supposed to be loaded with dummy rounds, but somehow live ammunition had been loaded into the weapon, authorities said.

Carmack-Altwies confirmed during the "Good Morning America" interview that additional live rounds were found on the "Rust" set, but declined to say how many.

"We still don't know how they got on the set and how they got there, I think, will be one of the most important factors going into a charging decision," the district attorney said

Carmack-Altwies added, "It's probably more important to focus on what led up to the shooting because the moment of the shooting, we know that at least Mr. Baldwin had no idea that the gun was loaded, so it's more how did that gun get loaded, what levels of failure happened and were those levels of failure criminal."

The district attorney said the "most concerning thing" to her is "that there were so many levels of failures on that set."

Additionally, Carmack-Altwies said that it is believed that the film's assistant director Dave Halls did in fact hand the gun to Baldwin before the fatal shooting - an aspect that Halls' attorney has denied.

"Yes, that does seem to be the case," Carmack-Altwies said when asked if Halls handed Baldwin the firearm.

A previously released affidavit from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office said the gun that Baldwin used was "set up" by Gutierrez-Reed and then given to Halls.

The documents state that Halls had handed Baldwin the gun while inside a church-building on set and yelled "cold gun," which indicated that it did not contain any live rounds before the shooting.

Halls' attorney Lisa Torraco previously disputed that Halls gave Baldwin the gun in an interview with Fox News.

"The idea my client grabbed the gun and handed it to Baldwin absolutely did not happen," Torraco said.

Read the original article on Insider


Santa Fe district attorney shuts down armorer lawyers' allegations of 'sabotage' on 'Rust' set
Source: Kalayaan News

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