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After 15 agonizing months of investigations, interviews, police reports and trials, Santa Fe prosecutors finally announced charges in the shooting of Halyna Hutchins today.
Actor Alec Baldwin will be charged with involuntary manslaughter, as will gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
Deputy Chief Dave Halls pleaded guilty to one count of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
Hutchins was shot and killed by actor Alec Baldwin on October 21, 2021.
Since then, the world has watched a haunted Baldwin insist it was an accident but he didn’t pull the trigger, while the Hutchins family has gone from sympathetic to outraged.
Here DailyMail.com breaks down the key evidence and details from the last 15 months that led to today’s decision.
OCTOBER 21 – THE SHOOTING
While filming his western movie Rust outside of Santa Fe, Alec Baldwin accidentally shot Halyna Hutchins and director Joel Souza on set.
Baldwin had been practicing pulling his gun out of its holster.
Baldwin on the set of the film with Halyna Hutchins, before he was shot
The bullet passed through Souza’s shoulder but fired directly into Hutchins’ chest.
She was rushed to the hospital where she was later pronounced dead, much to the shock and horror of the cast and crew.
ALLEGATIONS OF AN UNSAFE SET AND NON-CONFORMING CREW WALK-OFFS
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, it emerged that the production had been plagued with complaints from staff.
Days before the incident, several crew members even left the set.
Their complaints included concerns about Dave Halls, the assistant director, who had been accused in the past of operating unsafe sets.
Some said they were forced to sleep in their cars next to the set because hotel rooms next to the set were too expensive. Instead, their rooms were booked in Santa Fe, which is a 30-minute drive from Bonanza Creek Ranch, the location of the set.
Baldwin is seen on October 21, 2021, after speaking with investigators about the fatal shooting.
They also complained about the long work hours and claimed that they were not receiving paychecks on time.
Almost immediately, attention turned to the gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, a 24-year-old whose father was well known in the industry and who had little experience in the role.
A YOUNG AND ‘CARELESS’ ARMADERO
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, found herself at the center of the scandal almost immediately.
Her history quickly came to light, with former colleagues quick to open up about how “sloppy” she had been on previous sets, how she had “waving guns” and even handing one to the child actress.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, found herself at the center of the scandal almost immediately.
He hired a group of lawyers who immediately began issuing statements to combat the claims.
THE HUTCHINS FAMILY LIGHTS UP WITH BALDWIN AND SUE
It is impossible to deny the pain and anguish written on Baldwin when he learned that Hutchins was dead.
He was standing in the parking lot of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, having just been interviewed and photographed by a local newspaper photographer as he collapsed from shock and tears while talking on the phone.
Shortly thereafter, he released a statement saying, “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness at the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hucthins, a wife, mother, and deeply admired colleague of ours.”
Hutchins with her son and husband Matthew
“I am fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how his tragedy occurred.”
Initially, Hutchins’ widower, Matthew, said that Baldwin had been “supportive”.
But in February 2022, he sued the actor along with other Rust producers, citing “reckless behavior and cost cutting” that they allege contributed to his death.
Baldwin settled out of court with Hutchins, agreeing to make him executive producer of the film once production resumed.
BALDWIN POLICE INTERVIEW: HE INSISTS HE ‘ARMED’ THE GUN BUT DID NOT PULL THE TRIGGER
Baldwin insisted to police that he had been told the gun was “cold” when delivered and, more importantly, that he did not pull the trigger.
“We’ve been doing this for two weeks and we’ve been doing it the right way every day. Just before shooting. I went to lunch. ‘She disarmed me, Hannah, she always handled the gun. I come back, they give me the revolver – Hannah – they arm me. You’re assuming it’s a cold weapon. I put the gag on the shot.
I pull out the gun, when it clears up, I turn around, cock the gun, and the gun goes off. It’s supposed to be a cold gun. bang, she [Hutchins] hit the ground. [Joel Souza] he falls, yelling “Jesus Christ!”
“I’ve never seen this before… What came out of that bullet that went through his shoulder?… It was right in front of me,” he said.
Towards the end of the interview, Baldwin is shown a photograph of what was removed from Souza’s shoulder.
Surprised, he says, ‘That’s a bullet. Someone put a live bullet in the gun.
He is then interrogated.
“Did you see the rounds on the gun?”
‘Not.’
Have you seen how they are?
I have seen her load and reload the gun many times.
Have you seen the bullets?
“Sometimes the head is a casing, it pinches shut at the top and you put the cosmetic round in when you know you’re going to see…those clay-based rounds look exactly like a bullet.
‘So cosmetically you see that in the cylinder. I’m very upset right now…forgive me.’
BALDWIN’S PR CRASH: ACTOR DENIES RESPONSIBILITY FOR SHOOTING IN DRAMATIC ABC INTERVIEW THAT ‘P****D OFF’ HALYNA’S HUSBAND
In December 2021, Baldwin, who had maintained a somewhat dignified silence, went on the offensive.
He sat down for an interview with ABC where he emphatically denied pulling the trigger and said he didn’t feel responsible because it wasn’t his fault.
‘Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who it is, but it’s not me.
Honestly, if I had thought I was responsible, I could have killed myself. And I don’t say that lightly.
Alec Baldwin, 63, spoke with George Stephanopoulos for an interview that aired Thursday.
Baldwin, after the interview aired, posted on Instagram a photo of himself cradling one of his six young children.
‘No matter what happens to me. It doesn’t matter what you suffer. If I win or lose, whatever. Anything. No one can take away the joy and love you have given me, @hilariabaldwin,’ she wrote.
‘These are difficult times. The world is choked with fumes of hate. But you’ve given me a reason to live. Our life with our family is all that matters to me. Nothing more. I owe you.
Halyna’s husband was outraged.
‘How is he not responsible?’ he told her in his own interview with NBC.
VIDEO RECREATION OF THE SHOOTING PRODUCED BY THE LAWYERS OF THE HALYNA FAMILY
Furious over Baldwin’s ABC interview and desperate for answers, Halyna’s widower and his lawyers commissioned a dramatic CGI video re-enactment of the incident.
The video showed Baldwin cocking his gun and firing suddenly, straight through Halyna’s chest and grazing Joel Souza’s shoulder.
The video was filed as part of his wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin and the producers, but it became part of the public record and discussion surrounding the case.
FBI PUBLISHES DAMNING REPORT CLAIMING BALDWIN APPROVES TRIGGER
In August 2022, the FBI released its damning report on the case.
The key takeaway was his finding, based on the forensic analysis of the gun, that Baldwin had to have pulled the trigger for it to fire if the gun was cocked, as he said it was.
The FBI said that in tests, it was possible for the gun to fire without pulling the trigger if the gun was not cocked, but Baldwin insisted that it was.
It was the most devastating find possible for Baldwin, who had so emphatically denied pulling the trigger.
The key takeaway was his finding, based on the forensic analysis of the gun, that Baldwin had to have pulled the trigger for it to fire if the gun was cocked, as he said it was.
His lawyers immediately went to work denying it, insisting that it was not a reliable finding and that the reasons behind it were shaky, saying the FBI could only get it to go off once in testing, after pulling the trigger, but that did not happen. It doesn’t necessarily mean he was lying.
The FBI report is being misinterpreted. The gun fired on test only once, without having to pull the trigger, when the firing pin was removed and the gun broke in two different places.
“The FBI was unable to fire the gun in any prior evidence, including when he pulled the trigger, because it was in very poor condition,” his lawyers said.
POLICE INTERVIEWS
In their own interviews with police, Gutierrez-Reed, Halls, and Kenney tried to blame each other or Baldwin.
Seth Kenney insisted that the blame lies with Gutierrez-Reed, who said he was happy to shoot and eager to fire live bullets.
“She wanted to shoot live ammunition with the guns, the guns from the TV movies. I said no, obviously. And then she acknowledged.
“Bottom right, you saw where she said I’m going to get you off mine now,” he said, referring to the text messages between the pair.
She told police the fault lay with Baldwin, who was “distracted” and “on his phone” during the workout.