Santa Fe authorities release new video evidence from ‘Rust’ shooting

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office released a trove of video from its investigation into last October’s deadly shooting on the set of the movie “Rust.” Sheriff Adan Mendoza described Monday’s release as including “all files associated with our ongoing investigation,” including body cam video of a commanding officer reporting to the scene.

“I’ve got two males shot at Bonanza Creek. I don’t know if it’s a movie set, but one of the guns was real,” the officer could be heard saying. “We don’t know the patients right now. There is a medical somebody on scene. But we don’t know the situation right now, whether they’re dead or dying.”

The video follows the officer as he arrives on the scene, where medics were already tending to the wounded. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed in the shooting, can be seen being put into an ambulance.

In addition to scene video from the shooting, the sheriff’s office also released “Rust” rehearsal clips that show actor and producer Alec Baldwin in costume as he practices a quick-draw maneuver with a gun. Baldwin was the one who ended up firing the fatal shot.

The sheriff’s office also released an interview with Baldwin that took place four days later. In that interview, we get a better idea of what went down from Baldwin’s perspective.

“In the rehearsal, there should’ve been nothing. It should have been a cold gun with no rounds inside or dummy rounds, cosmetic rounds, no flash. I take the gun out slowly. I turn, I cock the pistol — bang! She hits the ground, she goes down. He goes down screaming,” Baldwin said. “I’ve been doing this, I’ve shot enough guns in my day in movies. I’ve never seen this before.”

Accompanying the new “Rust” shooting video Monday was a statement from Mendoza. In it, he said the investigation is ongoing, and a formal decision on criminal charges would depend on further forensic work.

“Various components of the investigation remain outstanding, including FBI firearm and ballistic forensics along with DNA and latent fingerprint analysis, [coroner’s] findings and the analysis of Mr. Alec Baldwin’s phone data extracted by Suffolk County Sheriff’s investigators,” Mendoza said.