SAN JOSE, Calif. — Alec Baldwin, hit Thursday with a search warrant for his mobile phone as investigators continue to probe the death of Halyna Hutchins, returned to Twitter to deny a headline saying he requested a “larger gun before fatal shooting on ‘Rust’ movie set.”
“This, in fact, is a lie,” the actor tweeted about the headline on a Newsweek report, apparently objecting to the headline’s suggestion that he asked for the larger gun just before the shooting.
“The choices regarding any props by me for the film RUST were made weeks before production began,” Baldwin said. “To suggest that any changes were made ‘before fatal shooting’ is false.”
The Newsweek report is based on an affidavit from a Santa Fe County Sheriff’s detective, who wrote that Baldwin had in fact discussed his choice of weapon with “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed via email sometime before the Oct. 21 shooting. The affidavit was included in a search warrant issued to acquire Baldwin’s cell phone.
The news about the search warrant appeared to set Baldwin off, as it prompted him to return to Twitter after he quit it in the wake of his controversial Dec. 2 interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
Detective Alexandria Hancock wrote in the affidavit that Baldwin said “he requested a bigger gun, and she also showed him different styles of knives for the production,” Newsweek reported.
“Alec said since they were in rehearsal, he assumed he had an empty gun, therefore when he shot the gun, Haylena (sic) was right in front of him,” Hancock wrote, referring to the gunfight scene Baldwin was rehearsing with cinematographer Hutchins and director Joel Souza when the gun discharged. Hutchins, 42, was killed and Souza, 48, was wounded.
“Alec described the gun to be a ‘period’ Colt,” Hancock continued. “He said there were emails transferred back and forth between Hannah and him where she showed him different styles of guns.”
“Alec was shown a Colt with a brown handle, and a cherry handle, and he ultimately chose the one with the brown handle,” Hancock wrote.
The search warrant, signed off by Judge David Segura, authorizes police to conduct a “forensic download” in order to acquire all contacts, text messages, social media accounts and data from the device, including possible deleted data. The warrant also seeks GPS data related to the phone.
Baldwin was seen on his phone making a call to his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, shortly after the shooting.
Hancock said the sheriff’s department had asked Baldwin for his phone, but the actor and his lawyer said investigators needed to seek a warrant.
“Affiant is requesting a warrant for the seizure and search of Alec Baldwin's cell phone to search for any evidence relating to the death investigation of Halyna Hutchins,” Hancock wrote.
“Affiant believes there may be evidence on the phone, due to individuals using cellular phones during and/or after the commission of crime(s),” Hancock continued. “Such information, if it exists, may be material and relevant to this investigation. Affiant was also made aware there were several emails and text messages sent and received regarding the movie production ‘Rust’ in the course of interviews.”
Baldwin’s civil attorney, Aaron Dyer, said in a statement to Newsweek that Baldwin has cooperated with authorities. He acknowledged that he and Baldwin “proactively requested” that police obtain a warrant “so that we could take steps to protect Mr. Baldwin’s family and personal information that is clearly unrelated to the investigation.”
“A phone contains a person’s entire life, and personal information needs to be protected,” Dyer added. “While they evaluate the phone information, we hope that the authorities continue to focus on how the live rounds got on the set in the first place.”
“We are confident that the evidence will show that Mr. Baldwin is not responsible civilly or criminally for what occurred on Oct. 21, and he continues to cooperate with authorities,” Dyer also said.
In Baldwin’s controversial Dec. 2 interview with Stephanopoulos, he said he never pulled the trigger while rehearsing the scene. Baldwin said he began to cock the revolver but did not pull the trigger.
“I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun goes off,” Baldwin said, adding: “I didn’t pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger. Never.”
Baldwin also insisted to Stephanopoulos that he wasn’t responsible for making sure the gun was safe to use. He said he was assured by Halls that the gun was “cold,” meaning it held no live rounds.
Baldwin told Stephanopoulos: “The gun was supposed to be empty. I was told I was handed an empty gun.”
Baldwin’s assertion that the gun somehow fired on its own has been disputed by several gun experts, according to an analysis by the Washington Post. The experts increasingly say that the scenario Baldwin described “does not make sense unless there was a serious mechanical defect with the gun — which should have been obvious before it was used,” the Washington Post reported.
