Update: Police say the assistant director who handed a gun to Alec Baldwin on the set of Rust before it discharged, killing the cinematographer, admitted to detectives he did not fully check it before handing it to the actor and declaring it a "cold," or safe, gun. Rather than checking all of the rounds, Dave Halls allegedly told investigators he could only recall seeing three, and he didn't know if the armorer on the film spun the drum as she typically would have to ensure none of the rounds was live, the AP reports. Halls was the one who picked up the weapon after the shooting, and when he brought it to the armorer, they found at least four dummy bullet casings—and one empty casing that was not from a dummy bullet. Our original story from Wednesday follows:
The "lead projectile" that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was recovered from the shoulder of director Joel Souza by doctors—and there may have been more live rounds on the set of Rust, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza told reporters Wednesday. He said investigators found around 500 rounds of ammunition on the movie set, including blanks, dummy rounds, and suspected rounds, NBC reports. The sheriff said that while it's too early to determine whether charges will be filed, there are definitely issues that need to be looked at. "I think there was some complacency on this set, and I think there are some safety issues that need to be addressed by the industry and possibly by the state of New Mexico," he said.
"We suspect that there were other live rounds, but that’s up to the testing," Mendoza said, per the AP. "But right now, we’re going to determine how those got there, why they were there because they shouldn’t have been." He said evidence will be submitted to the FBI Crime Lab in Quantico, Virginia. The sheriff said the weapon fired by Alec Baldwin was a Pietta Long Colt revolver. Officials say the incident happened during rehearsal and there does not appear to be any footage of it. Souza and armorer Hannah Gutierrez have said there should not have been any live rounds on the set.
story continues below
Mendoza said the "facts and rumors floating around" are being investigated. Reports that crew members had been using the gun to shoot cans earlier in the day remain unconfirmed, reports the Santa Fe New Mexican. A new warrant for a prop truck where the revolver had reportedly been kept was released minutes before the sheriff's press conference began. Veteran armorer Mike Tristano tells the AP that it's "appalling" to hear that live rounds were apparently mixed in with blanks. "In over 600 films and TV shows that I’ve done, we've never had a live round on set," he says. (Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said Tuesday that criminal charges are "on the table.")
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
