US actor Alec Baldwin told CNN that he has engaged a private investigator to determine who is to blame for the fatal gunshot that occurred on the set of the Western movie “Rust,” but he does not think anyone will face criminal charges.
Halyna Hutchins, a cinematographer for the low-budget film, passed away last October after being struck by a live bullet from a gun Baldwin was holding as he was practicing on the New Mexico set.
The shooting is still under criminal investigation, and prosecutors have not yet ruled out charging anyone.
“I sincerely believe… (investigators are) going to say that this was an accident. It’s tragic,” said Baldwin in a rare interview about the episode, a portion of which was aired Friday.
Baldwin told CNN he had replayed the events leading up to the shooting over and over for the past 10 months.
While insisting he does not want to “condemn” Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film set’s armorer and props assistant, Baldwin pointed the finger of blame at her and assistant director Dave Halls, who handed him the gun moments before the shooting.
“Someone put a live bullet in the gun who should have known better,” Baldwin said.
“That was (Gutierrez-Reed’s) job. Her job was to look at the ammunition and put in the dummy round or the blank round, and there wasn’t supposed to be any live rounds on the set.
“There are two people who didn’t do what they were supposed to do,” he added.
“I’m not sitting there saying I want them to, you know, go to prison, or I want their lives to be hell.
“I don’t want that, but I want everybody to know that those are the two people that are responsible for what happened.”
