FBI testing of the gun used in the fatal shooting on the movie set of “Rust” found that the weapon handled by actor Alec Baldwin could not be fired without pulling the trigger while the gun was cocked, according to a newly released forensics report.
Baldwin had the gun while rehearsing a scene of the Western film at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico in October when a shot fired, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
In December, Baldwin told ABC News he never pulled the trigger of the gun that shot Hutchins. “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin, in that interview, also described cocking the gun as he talked through the scene with Hutchins. “So then I said to her, ‘Now in this scene, I’m going to the gun.’ And I said, ‘Do you want to see that?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ So I take the gun and I start to cock the gun. I’m not going to pull the trigger.”
Cocking a revolver pistol like the one used on the movie set involves pulling the hammer of the gun back to prepare the weapon to fire. When the hammer of the gun is released forward with enough force — as happens when the trigger is pressed — it strikes the primer of a round of ammunition causing the gun to fire.
Actor Alec Baldwin told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview back in December after the incident that he had “no idea” how a live bullet got onto the set of his film, “Rust,” but that he “didn’t pull the trigger” on the firearm that killed one person and wounded another. “I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never,” Baldwin told Stephanopoulos in a first look at the upcoming interview, which is produced by George Stephanopoulos Productions.
ABC December 2021