‘Rust’ Shooting Update: 3 Errors Caused Halyna Hutchins to Be Shot in Chest

A series of errors led to the fatal shooting on the New Mexico set of Alec Baldwin’s film Rust, according to firearms safety expert Steve Wolf. The film’s director, Joel Souza, was injured and cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed when Baldwin was handed a prop gun that “discharged,” with an affidavit for a search warrant from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office revealing what Wolf said are three errors that led to the shooting.

Released over the weekend, the affidavit documents the moments that led up to the shooting, revealing that Baldwin was “practicing a quick draw” during a break at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set. The actor was handed one of a trio of prop guns on a nearby cart by an assistant director, who said it was a “cold gun,” indicating the firearm did not contain any live rounds in it. Appearing on CNN, Wolf said this marked the first in a trio of fatal errors, as the film should not have been using a real gun instead of an actual prop gun and live rounds should never have been in the firearm.

“There’s no reason to have had a firearm that was capable of discharging live ammo on the set,” Wolf said. “A prop gun is a gun that’s been specifically manufactured for shooting blanks, not bullets. In fact, the bullets won’t fit into a gun that’s been modified properly, only blanks will fit into it. And that’s a safeguard to ensure that live ammo is not loaded into guns that are used on set. So if you don’t use the right type of gun, you’re not going to get the safety benefit that’s been engineered into it.”

Wolf, who also said the assistant director should not have been the one to clear the gun before the incident, something that should have been the armorists job, also indicated that a third error was in the placement of those on set. According to the affidavit, as Baldwin was rehearsing for the scene, he pointed the gun directly at the camera and fired what he believed to be a blank, though he actually fired a live round, which struck Hutchins in the abdomen and Souza in the shoulder. Wolf said when handling the firearm, nobody should have been behind the camera in “the line of fire.”

As the police continue their investigation into the fatal accident, no charges have been brought forth at this time. Authorities have obtained a search warrant to seize all possible footage of the fatal shooting, production computer equipment, memory, and other digital cards, as well as all weapons, all weapon ownership documents, and cell phones and smartphones of crew and cast. First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies confirmed to Deadline that “this case is still in its preliminary states of investigation.”