Where did the shooting happen?

On the afternoon of Oct. 21, 2021, Mr. Baldwin and “Rust” crew members were inside a wooden structure designed to look like a church, setting up a scene in which Mr. Baldwin’s character, a grizzled outlaw, draws his gun to battle with U.S. marshals who had cornered him. Witnesses said they heard the phrase “cold gun,” meaning the weapon did not contain any live ammunition and was safe to handle.The crew was setting up a tight camera framing of Mr. Baldwin drawing his revolver when the gun discharged. The bullet passed through Ms. Hutchins’s upper body and struck Joel Souza, the film’s director. Ms. Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to a hospital in Albuquerque, where she died. Mr. Souza was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Santa Fe and was released the next day...

Were there other safety concerns?

The day before the shooting, members of the camera crew quit the production over working conditions, turning the morning of the fatal shooting into a scramble to find new crew members.In an email sent to production leaders on Oct. 20, Lane Luper, a member of the camera crew, cited safety concerns as one reason for his resignation, writing that during the filming of gunfights “things are often played very fast and loose.” He also mentioned a lack of safety meetings and two accidental discharges of weapons that had been loaded with blank rounds. The email also included complaints about paychecks and housing...

Who has been prosecuted?

Apart from Mr. Baldwin and Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, one other person has faced criminal prosecution: Dave Halls, who was the movie’s first assistant director. Mr. Halls has acknowledged that he failed to properly check the gun the day of the shooting and accepted a plea deal in the case, avoiding prison time.At Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s trial, prosecutors accused her of repeatedly shirking gun safety standards on set and failing to identify that one of the rounds she had loaded into the gun was live. She is appealing her conviction...

Who was Halyna Hutchins?

Filmmakers described Ms. Hutchins as a skilled cinematographer with an artistic vision who was deeply committed to her work.She grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle, and studied economics in Ukraine before switching to a journalism program at Kyiv National University. She later attended the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles.At Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s sentencing hearing , Emilia Mendieta, a friend and cinematographer, recalled Ms. Hutchins’s excitement to begin filming a western, recounting a phone call shortly before “Rust” began in which she explained that the movie “has horses and gunfights and we’re shooting out in the desert” and that “it’s a huge steppingstone” in her career...

Why was the case dismissed?

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case after discovering that the state had withheld evidence that could have explained how live rounds ended up on the film set.Lawyers for Mr. Baldwin accused the state of failing to share that it had received a batch of rounds that were believed to be connected to the case when the defense had asked to review all the ballistic evidence.The case as dismissed with prejudice, bringing an end to the manslaughter prosecution of Mr. Baldwin.

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What to Know About the Fatal Shooting on the ‘Rust’ Movie Set

The case against Alec Baldwin was dismissed by a judge. He was rehearsing with an old-fashioned revolver on the set of a western when a cinematographer was fatally shot.

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Alec Baldwin was filming the western “Rust” near Santa Fe, N.M., when the gun he was holding went off, killing the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.Credit...Agence France-Presse, via Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office

By Julia Jacobs

Sept. 30, 2024

The involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin was dismissed on July 12, more than two years after the gun he was rehearsing with on the “Rust” film set fired a live bullet that killed the movie’s cinematographer.

The case was dismissed after the judge found that the state had withheld evidence that could have explained how live rounds wound up on the film set.

Mr. Baldwin, who was both a lead actor and producer in the western, was the second person to go to trial for the fatal shooting of the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. This year, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer who loaded the gun with a live round that day, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

The aftermath of the shooting has also included numerous civil lawsuits, a steep fine on the production and a reckoning inside Hollywood over the use of real guns on television and film sets.

Mr. Baldwin repeatedly denied responsibility for the tragedy, noting that he was told that the gun did not contain any live rounds and that live ammunition is supposed to be banned on sets. The actor also denied pulling the trigger, but prosecutors said that forensic reports disproved that account.

Here is an overview of what has happened since the fatal shooting.

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Mr. Baldwin after he was questioned about the shooting on Oct. 21, 2021.Credit...Jim Weber/Santa Fe New Mexican, via Associated Press

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