The attorney for Rust assistant director David Halls said that his client insisted that actor Alec Baldwin did not pull the trigger on the gun that discharged on the set of the movie, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring the movie’s director, Deadline reports.
According to the report by Deadline on Thursday, the latest revelations coming from the Attorney, is in line with Baldwin’s contention that he did not pull the trigger of the gun.
ABC News on Wednesday released a teaser of George Stephanopoulos’ interview of the actor, in which he said that he “didn’t pull the trigger.” The full interview will air as part of a one-hour special on Thursday evening.
On Good Morning America, Halls’ attorney Lisa Torraco said, “Dave has told me since the very first day I met him that actor Alec Baldwin did not pull that trigger. His finger was never in the trigger guard.”
What’s unclear is how the gun discharged and why it included a live round. Baldwin told Stephanopoulos that he had no idea of how the ammunition got on the set.
“Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property,” Baldwin said in the clip.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff is continuing an investigation into the incident, which occurred during a dress rehearsal on the New Mexico set on Oct. 21.
In addition to the special on Thursday evening, to air at 8 PM ET, 20/20 will feature a two-hour look into what happened on the set.
Torraco would not say whether it was Halls who handed the gun to Baldwin, but said that her client called it a “freak, awful accident.” She said that she would be “shocked” if criminal charges are filed against him.
In October, a report by Associated Press (AP) stated that a report from the ongoing investigations into the accidental shooting involving actor Alec Baldwin, shows the assistant director unwittingly handed the Hollywood actor a loaded weapon and told him it was safe to use in the moments before the actor allegedly fatally shot the cinematographer.
Director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her, was wounded, the records as obtained by Associated Press.
The gun was one of three that the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, had set on a cart outside the wooden structure where a scene was being acted, according to the records. Assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.
It was unclear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez removed a shell casing from the gun after the shooting, and she turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.
The film’s script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, said she was standing next to Hutchins when she was shot.
“I ran out and called 911 and said ‘Bring everybody, send everybody,’” Mitchell told The Associated Press. “This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.”