Alec Baldwin has lastly handed over his cellphone to cops investigating his unintentional killing of a cinematographer a month after they requested it.
The 63 year-old actor’s lawyer Aaron Dyer confirmed the system had been handed over to authorities in Suffolk County, New York, on Friday, near the place Baldwin lives.
It’s being sought by Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza and his investigators probing the dying of Halyna Hutchins, 42, on the set of Baldwin’s western Rust in Bonanza Metropolis, New Mexico, on October 21 final yr.
Suffolk County cops have been coordinating with their colleagues in Santa Fe, with the system now set to be handed to them imminently.
Dyer advised Deadline: ‘Alec voluntarily supplied his cellphone to the authorities this morning to allow them to end their investigation.
‘However this matter isn’t about his cellphone, and there aren’t any solutions on his cellphone. Alec did nothing unsuitable.’
He continued: ‘It’s clear that he was advised it was a chilly gun, and was following directions when this tragic accident occurred.
Alec Baldwin has lastly agreed at hand over his cellphone to sheriff’s deputies investigating his unintentional killing of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. He’s pictured weeping whereas utilizing his cellphone within the fast aftermath of the October 2021 capturing
Baldwin is pictured utilizing his cellphone in New York Metropolis on January 13. He has angrily denied allegations of wrongdoing
‘The actual query that must be answered is how stay rounds acquired on the set within the first place.’
Baldwin has not been charged with any crime, and denies wrongdoing. Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Division first issued a warrant for the cellphone on December 16.
District Lawyer Mary Carmack-Altwies mentioned investigators probing the tragedy needed to ‘receive any supplies’ from Baldwin’s cellphone that would uncover what led to the capturing.
Hutchins was a married mother of 1. Director Joel Souza, 48, was additionally shot throughout the accident, however recovered from his accidents.
Throughout a tear-stained interview with ABC Information anchor George Stephanopoulos in December, Baldwin mentioned the capturing occurred when he was working with Hutchins on tips on how to place a gun for a scene they had been about to shoot.
The handset is being sought by Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza (pictured in Santa Fe on October 27 2021) and his crew of investigators
He mentioned he pulled again the hammer and launched it, prompting the gun to fireside. Manufacturing of the western was canned after the capturing, with allegations of cost-cutting and poor security practices made towards its crew.
Talking on ABC Information, Baldwin mentioned: ‘One of the best ways, the one means, we will honor the dying of Halyna Hutchins is to seek out out the reality.
‘That’s what I’m working towards, insisting on, demanding that the organizations concerned on this investigation do all the pieces of their energy, all the pieces of their energy, to seek out out what actually occurred. That’s all that issues.’
In the meantime, the 24-year-old armorer on the Rust set, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, filed a lawsuit in a Bernalillo County, New Mexico court docket on Wednesday that claims Baldwin ignored a request to attend a ‘cross draw’ session a few week earlier than the tragedy.
The rookie armorer additionally faulted assistant director David Halls for failing to observe set protocol when he allegedly handed Baldwin the weapon with out first calling on her to examine it, based on the lawsuit.
Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, pictured, was by chance shot and killed by Baldwin on the set of the film. Director Joel Souza was additionally struck, however survived
Baldwin is pictured with fellow solid members and Hutchins, who was a 42 year-old married mother-of-one
Gutierrez-Reed, 24, is suing Seth Kenney and his firm PDQ Arm and Prop LLC for allegedly supplying the lethal bullet. Baldwin isn’t named as a defendant within the go well with.
The 24-page doc can also be rife with particulars a few set rife with bitter disputes, carelessness and anecdotes that element a disregard for security.
Gutierrez-Reed – whose dad is famous movie armorer Thell Reed – mentioned her father labored with Kenney on a earlier movie, the place they educated actors at a licensed capturing vary utilizing stay ammunition.
Following the workshop, Kenney took a bucket filed with upward of 300 stay .45 Colt rounds residence, the lawsuit claims. The cache included Starline Brass reloaded ‘stay’ rounds – the identical sort of bullet used throughout the ‘Rust’ incident.
A couple of month later, Gutierrez-Reed landed a gig as an armorer and props assistant on ‘Rust,’ the place she was tasked with juggling two jobs directly
‘This gun heavy script required Hannah to carry out a big quantity of labor every day as each an armorer and key props assistant,’ the authorized submitting mentioned.
She was quickly joined on set by props supervisor Sarah Zachry, who later by chance fired a clean spherical at her foot on set, the lawsuit mentioned.
Manufacturing of Rust, whose set is pictured within the aftermath of the capturing, was canned within the wake of Hutchins’ dying
About 20 minutes after that mishap, Baldwin’s stunt double additionally by chance discharged a weapon on set, prompting Gutierrez-Reed to confront her colleague in regards to the sloppy errors, the lawsuit mentioned.
When she indicated her intentions of reporting the incident to administration, it led to a headed alternate with Kenney, the bullet provider.
‘Unintended discharges are accidents,’ Kenney mentioned in a textual content message referenced within the authorized submitting. ‘We be taught and transfer on, and do not forget, she’s your boss. Do not push it.’
On the morning of the capturing, October 21, Gutierrez-Reed mentioned she arrived to the set to seek out Zachry already within the prop trailer, retrieving hearth arms.
She additionally found a full field labeled ‘dummy rounds .45 LC’ that somebody positioned atop her gear bag, the lawsuit mentioned.
She believes the field got here from Kenney and when she shook it, heard a ‘jingling’ sound which is what it is purported to sound like when dummy bullets are being rattled.
Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, pictured, has filed a lawsuit claiming that the Rust set had lax gun security and that it was a chaotic place to work
Later that morning, she mentioned she, Zachry and one other coworker loaded Baldwin’s gun, trying to make use of dummy rounds from the field.
‘For Alec Baldwin’s gun, Hannah loaded 4 dummy rounds with holes in them from her pants pocket, a fifth dummy spherical from the field with a gap in it and tried to load a sixth dummy spherical with out a gap in it from the field however it could not go into the chamber, and he or she thought the chamber would possibly must be cleaned,’ the lawsuit mentioned.
‘Hannah remembers shaking the sixth spherical to make sure herself that it was a dummy spherical.’
Kenney texted Gutierrez-Reed after the tragedy and tried to influence her to put the blame on the movie’s assistant director Halls
Baldwin was then handed the gun and in possession of it from 10 am via 12:30 pm, when the crew broke for lunch, the submitting mentioned.
It was saved till 1:30 pm, when she cleaned Baldwin’s gun and inserted one other spherical from the dummy field into it after shaking it to make sure it was not actual, the declare mentioned.
‘To the very best of Hannah’s information, the gun was now loaded with 6 dummy rounds,’ the declare mentioned. ‘Certainly, Defendants as suppliers of prop ammunition to the Rust set, offered, distributed, and marketed its props as dummy ammunition and never stay rounds.
‘Hannah relied upon and trusted that Defendants would solely provide dummy prop ammunition, or blanks, and no stay rounds had been ever to be on set.’
She then delivered the gun to to set church and handed it to Halls, the assistant director, who mentioned he’d be ‘sitting in’ with the gun.
The lawsuit claims Halls later handed the gun to Baldwin with out calling on Gutierrez-Reed to examine it a remaining time earlier than use.
She mentioned she was tending to her duties as a prop assistant.
‘Realizing that no gun scene was happening at the moment based on Halls, and with consciousness of COVID protocols and social distancing, Hannah then walked exterior the church to organize her fanny pack for scenes that afternoon and to do a few of her prop duties,’ the lawsuit mentioned.
‘Manufacturing was behind that day and Hannah was conscious about the necessity to attend to her prop duties as nicely, for scenes that afternoon.’
Inside quarter-hour, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot useless, and director Joel Souza was struck within the shoulder.
The unintentional discharge by no means would have occurred if Halls had summoned Gutierrez-Reed to oversee, the court docket submitting mentioned.
Shortly after the capturing, Halls launched a press release calling Hutchins his ‘buddy’ and requested the business to ‘reevaluate’ its values.
‘I am shocked and saddened by her dying,’ Halls mentioned. ‘It is my hope that this tragedy prompts the business to reevaluate its values and practices to make sure nobody is harmed via the inventive course of once more.’
He failed to deal with stories that he was one of many three individuals to deal with the loaded gun earlier than the tragedy.