Alec Baldwin’s fatal shooting: “worrying” text messages intrigue the police – CNEWS

As the investigation into the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust in October 2021 continues, the police are particularly looking into messages sent by the film’s gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez Reed. The day after the publication of videos and documents relating to the fatal shooting of Alec Baldwin, Sheriff Adan Mendoza spoke of “disturbing” texts that the young woman sent to an ammunition supplier with whom she had worked on a previous film, “The Old Way”, a western with Nicolas Cage shot in Montana. The report, excerpts from which the Los Angeles Times cites in an article that appeared on Tuesday, April 26, states that the supplier allegedly told him “never to fire live ammunition with television/movie guns and to only use blank balls”. “It’s a big mistake, which always ends in tears,” he reportedly added. “Good to know, I’m still going to shoot mine,” Gutierrez Reed reportedly replied. “As of now, no one has admitted bringing live ammunition to the set. The information from the text messages is disturbing because there is talk of live ammunition that may have been used on another film set, a few months before the start of production on the film Rust,” Sheriff Adan Mendoza said on the show. NBC’s Today. The gunsmith’s attorney, who maintains she did not use live ammunition on set, told CNN over the text messages that her client wanted to try firing the gun to understand how the guns work old, but ultimately did not. At some point after the shooting, director Joel Souza recalled Gutierrez Reed standing over him, “screaming hysterically,” “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the Los Angeles Times also reports. . The film’s prop man, Sarah Zachry, reportedly told officers that Hannah “freaked out” right after the drama and started saying “there was no way anything was in [le pistolet] and that it was ‘going to ruin his career'”. In a second interview with detectives, Gutierrez Reed described being outside the church when the gun was fired and said it was first assistant director Dave Halls who brought her the gun she had then given to Alec Baldwin. She clarified that it was “unpleasant” to be on set because the atmosphere was “toxic”. She said she didn’t know the gun’s hammer was going to be fired and she regretted not checking it more. In October 2021, American actor Alec Baldwin was rehearsing a scene with a gun on a New Mexico film set when a bullet fatally hit cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. . The actor claims he is not responsible and had no idea the gun was loaded with live ammunition. He also claims that he didn’t even pull the trigger when the shot went off. Baldwin spoke with investigators several times by phone in the weeks following the shooting. In a November 3 phone call with Detective Alexandria Hancock, Baldwin repeated that he had not pulled the trigger on the gun. “I asked Alec if in the scene his finger was on the trigger, to which he replied that he was on the trigger, but he didn’t pull it and he had only pulled the hammer back. I tried to explain to him that if [son] finger was on the trigger, and he was pulling the hammer with his thumb, his index finger may have put enough pressure on the trigger for it to pull on it,” wrote Detective Alexandria Hancock, again according to comments reported by the Los Angeles Times. “Alec said he never tries to pull the trigger on a gun when the cameras aren’t rolling,” she added. The first elements of the investigation have so far shown serious shortcomings in compliance with basic safety rules. If the responsibility of Alec Baldwin is not yet criminally engaged, it could be advanced the sheriff. For the time being, “the FBI’s forensic report and the report from the office of the medical investigator are still awaited. “It is difficult to determine at this time the direction that the case will take. (…) I think there was complacency on the set. There was disorganization and a certain degree of negligence”, analyzed Adan Mendoza.