Sheriff turns over ‘Rust’ shooting findings to DA, charges unclear

A spokesperson for the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office said the department turned over the investigative findings on last year’s deadly shooting on the set of the movie “Rust.” The spokesman said two binders of information was turned over Thursday.

The binders include all the evidence collected, including investigative interviews and forensic analysis of physical evidence by the FBI. The office previously made public a trove of law enforcement files concerning the deadly shooting, including:

• Lapel camera video of the mortally wounded Hutchins
• Witness interrogations
• Email threads
• Text conversations
• Inventories of ammunition
• Hundreds of photographs

The sheriff’s office did not announce any recommendations about possible criminal charges. In the past, the department has said there was “a degree of neglect” on the film set.

“I think there was some complacency on this set, and I think there are some safety issues that need to be addressed by the industry and possibly by the state of New Mexico,” Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said last year. “But I’ll leave that up to the industry and the state to determine what those need to be.”

Through a spokesperson, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said investigators and prosecutors will now begin a thorough review of the “Rust” shooting findings to make a timely decision about whether to bring charges. A specific timetable for an announcement was not mentioned.

Actor Alec Baldwin, the man whose hand the gun was in when it went off, has said the shooting was an accident and that he did not pull the trigger. But a recent FBI forensic report found the weapon could not not have fired unless the trigger was pulled.

Baldwin and the other “Rust” producers settled a lawsuit from the family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed in the shooting. Part of that settlement was to restart filming with Hutchins’ husband’s involvement as executive producer. Filming is set to resume next year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.