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Hutchins died of her wounds and Souza was
injured but has since been released from a local hospital.
The assistant director who handed Baldwin the prop gun did not
know it contained live rounds, the affidavit by Santa Fe
Sheriff's Department Detective Joel Cano said.
Baldwin said on Friday he was in shock over the accidental
shooting as reports emerged of walk-outs on the "Rust" set
earlier in the week over unsafe conditions.
The star of "30 Rock" and "The Hunt for Red October" said he was
"fully cooperating" with authorities to determine how the
incident occurred on Thursday.
Production on the movie was immediately shut down. The sheriff's
department said no charges had been filed and the investigation
remained open. Baldwin voluntarily gave a statement about the
shooting, the sheriff's department said.
The affidavit was filed on Friday in support of a search warrant
for "old Western style clothing" worn by Baldwin that appeared
to have blood stains, along with firearms, documentation,
ammunition and cameras from the scene.
The search warrant was approved by a Santa Fe judge.
Cano said the incident took place at the Bonanza Creek Ranch,
south of Santa Fe, during a rehearsal and it was not clear
whether it had been filmed.
He said the prop gun was one of three on a cart outside a
building. One of them was taken by the assistant director on the
movie who went inside and handed it to Baldwin.
"As the assistant director handed the gun to the actor Alec
Baldwin, (he) yelled 'cold gun', indicating the prop gun did not
have any live rounds," the affidavit said.
As the investigation proceeded, questions were raised about
working conditions on the set of "Rust", a small budget Western
movie of which Baldwin was both star and a co-producer.
The Los Angeles Times and Deadline Hollywood cited several
members of the crew and others close to the production as saying
six or seven camera operators had walked off the "Rust" set
hours before the tragedy.
Both outlets also reported that there had been at least one
previous misfire with the prop gun.
"We cited everything from lack of payment for three weeks,
taking our hotels away despite asking for them in our deals,
lack of Covid safety, and on top of that, poor gun safety! Poor
on-set safety period!" one camera crew member wrote on a private
Facebook page, according to Deadline.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the accounts. Rust Movie
Productions did not respond to a request for comment on Friday
but said in a statement it was investigating.
"Though we were not made aware of any official complaints
concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting
an internal review of our procedures while production is shut
down," the company said in its statement.
Baldwin, 63, on Friday expressed his "shock and sadness
regarding the tragic accident" that killed Hutchins. In a
message on his social media accounts, he said his "heart is
broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved
Halyna."
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)
said in a statement that it was devastated to learn of the death
of Hutchins, who was a member of the union.
Hutchins' representatives in a statement said they "hope this
tragedy will reveal new lessons for how to better ensure safety
for every crew member on set."
Hutchins, 42, who was originally from Ukraine, was named one of
American Cinematographer's Rising Stars of 2019. Her last social
media post, two days ago, shows her grinning under a
wide-brimmed hat as she rides a horse. "One of the perks of
shooting a western is you get to ride horses on your day off:)"
she captioned the video.
Known for his impersonations of former U.S. President Donald
Trump on sketch show "Saturday Night Live," Baldwin has appeared
in more than 100 TV and film comedies and dramas, and won Emmy
awards for his role as an egotistical TV network executive in
the satire "30 Rock".
The accident renewed debate about whether certain types of prop
guns should be banned on TV and movie sets.
Brandon Lee, son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, died at age
28 after being fatally wounded in 1993 by a prop gun in an
on-set accident while filming "The Crow."
"I don't understand why we would still use blank rounds in a day
when you could simulate them," indie film director and producer
Ben Rock told Reuters on Friday.
(Reporting by Adria Malcolm in Santa Fe, Alexandra Ulmer in San
Francisco and Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Additional reporting
by Brendan O'Brien and Don Pessin; Writing by Joseph Ax and Jill
Serjeant; Editing by Karishma Singh, Noeleen Walder, Muralikumar
Anantharaman, Mike Collett-White, Gareth Jones and Daniel
Wallis)
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