(Los Angeles) The American police officers in charge of the investigation into the death of a filmmaker on the set of Rust were still waiting on Thursday for Alec Baldwin, who was handling the gun involved in the accident, to give them his cell phone as they asked him for almost a month ago.
Posted at 2:56 p.m.
At the time of the tragedy, on October 21 at a ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the actor was working on a scene with cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Alec Baldwin maintains that he never pressed the trigger of the revolver when the shot went off, saying he was content to cock the hammer. He had been presented with the weapon as harmless, as it was supposed to contain only dummy bullets.
In particular, the police are looking to find out how live ammunition could have been found on the set, which is in theory strictly prohibited.
In mid-December, investigators had obtained a warrant authorizing them to seize the phone of Alec Baldwin, also producer of the western, believing that it could contain “evidence” relating to the case, such as messages or emails.
According to the warrant, Alec Baldwin had notably exchanged emails with the gunsmith of the shooting concerning the type of revolver to be used on the fatal scene.
“To date, the cell phone has not been turned over to authorities,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
Investigators contacted Alec Baldwin’s lawyers to obtain the phone in question, but were unsuccessful. The sheriff’s services then requested the assistance of the Santa Fe prosecutor who, “for jurisdictional reasons”, began negotiations for the actor to hand over his phone “on a voluntary basis,” the statement said.
Last week on his Instagram account, the actor posted a rather rambling video in which he claimed to be willing to cooperate with the police and hand over his phone.
But he said the request, from the state of New Mexico to the state of New York where he resides, must follow proper legal procedures. “It’s a time-consuming procedure,” he says in the video.
“All the innuendos that I do not respect requests, orders or warrants concerning my phone, these are bullshit, these are lies,” said Alec Baldwin.
No arrests have been made to date in this case, but criminal proceedings are not excluded in the event that responsibilities are established, the services of the Santa Fe prosecutor pointed out shortly after the tragedy.
In an interview with ABC, Alec Baldwin said he felt neither guilty nor even “responsible” for the death of Halyna Hutchins.