Alec Baldwin has been indicted on involuntary manslaughter after the death of a producer on the set of Rust.
The Grand Jury indictment was filed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, today over the death of Halyna Hutchins, who died after a prop gun, held by Baldwin, went off on set in October 2021.
Responding to the indictment, the actor’s lawyers said “we look forward to our day in court”.
Special prosecutors dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge in April last year, saying they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned.
They later began considering whether to refile a charge against Baldwin after the new analysis of the gun.
The analysis relied on replacement parts to reassemble the gun, after parts of the pistol were broken during testing by the FBI.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer, but not the trigger, and the gun fired.
But after examining the gun and markings it left on a spent cartridge, the report concluded the trigger had to have been pulled or depressed.
It stated: “Given the tests, findings and observations reported here, the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”
An earlier FBI analysis of the gun found that, as is common with firearms of that design, it could go off without pulling the trigger if force was applied to an uncocked hammer.
This could be done by dropping the weapon, for example.
The only way analysts could get it to fire was by striking the gun with a mallet while the hammer was down and resting on the cartridge, or by pulling the trigger while it was fully cocked.
The gun eventually broke during testing.
The movie set’s weapons supervisor, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the case, with her trial scheduled to begin in February.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
