It’s been almost a year since the accidental gun discharge on the set of the Western Rust, which left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead and its director, Joel Souza, wounded. Attempts to get to the bottom of what happened have been chaotic, with lots of finger pointing and contradictory claims. The FBI opened an investigation, which, as per Deadline, has come to a startling conclusion: that the gun could not have been fired without the trigger being pulled.
That contradicts what Alec Baldwin, who was holding the gun when it went off, has said in the past. He’s told reporters that he never pulled the trigger, which was met with skepticism by gun experts. The FBI report states that the gun “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger,” adding that it couldn’t detonate “without a pull of the trigger when the hammer was struck directly.”
Where does this go next? The report has been sent to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’’s team of investigators, who have also sent it to New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator. When the research is concluded, the findings will be sent to the Santa Fe district attorney’s office, where final charging decisions will be made.
That still doesn’t explain how a live round wound up in the gun in the first place. Baldwin’s attorney has previously said that an earlier investigation, by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, exonerated the actor, concluding that firearm safety procedures were not followed on set.
(Via Deadline)