‘Am I being charged’: Video of Alec Baldwin interview released in ‘Rust’ shooting investigation

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office has released videos of its investigation into the shooting on the set of the film “Rust,” which left one crew member dead and a second wounded.

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One of the videos released showed law enforcement officials interviewing actor and producer Alec Baldwin, who fired the prop gun killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.

The video shows Baldwin making phone calls as he waits for a meeting with investigators.

>>Previous coverage: Alec Baldwin releases first statement after prop gun incident that killed cinematographer

“You have no idea how unbelievable this is and how strange this is,” Baldwin is heard, according to USA Today.

“I don’t want to be a public person,” he also said. “I’m the one holding a gun in my hand that everyone was supposed to have taken care of.”

During his sit-down with law enforcement, Baldwin asked, “Am I being charged with something?”

The deputy said Baldwin was not being charged, and that it was just an interview before the official read the actor his Miranda rights, CNN reported.

Baldwin also said he did not know the armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s last name but that she gave him the gun directly, according to CNN.

She and her team gave Baldwin a holster, knife and gun.

>>Previous coverage: Alec Baldwin shooting: Lead bullet among 500 rounds of ammunition recovered from ‘Rust’ set

Footage of Baldwin wasn’t the only video released. Officials also shared clips of interviews with Souza.

He told a deputy while still in the hospital that he heard a “very loud bang” and “felt like someone kicked me in the shoulder,” USA Today reported.

“I was down... and then I looked over and see the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with blood coming out of her back,” Souza told the officer.

He also asked if she was OK.

>>Previous coverage: Alec Baldwin shooting: ‘Rust’ director Joel Souza ‘gutted’ by on-set fatality

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said that the investigation is still open and that he is waiting for the results from the FBI on ballistics and forensic evidence. He is also waiting for fingerprint and DNA results, CNN reported.

Mendoza said his office has also released images of ammunition from the movie set, as well as other reports including screenshots of emails and text messages that show that there were questions about safety by members of the “Rust” crew, USA Today reported.

>>Previous coverage: Alec Baldwin calls for police on set after ‘Rust’ shooting

A conversation between Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin’s assistant shows that Gutierrez-Reed asked if the actor was “feeling OK” about a scene where Baldwin would be holding a gun.

“Just worried he never tried shooting with the holster at all,” Gutierrez-Reed wrote.

“He has not relayed anything to me on this front,” the assistant replied.

>>Previous coverage: ‘Rust’ shooting: Halyna Hutchins’ family sues Alec Baldwin, film’s producers

Lane Luper, a camera assistant on the film, quit and wrote to Hutchins and unit production manager Row Walters that safety issues were a challenge, including the enforcement of COVID-19 enforcement, USA Today reported.

“The obstacles that we overcome every day on a western should be that of logistics and that alone,” Luper wrote to the pair. “Unfortunately the challenge that I face each day in this picture is safety.”

Hutchins’ family filed a lawsuit against “Rust” producers, including Baldwin, for wrongful death, alleging that producers “committed major breaches of industry protocols” that “led to the senseless and tragic death of Halyna Hutchins.”

>>Previous coverage: ‘Rust’ shooting: Halyna Hutchins’ family sues Alec Baldwin, film’s producers

Baldwin told ABC News in December that he had cocked the gun, “but did not pull the trigger.” He said he felt sadness but not guilt over the incident. He also said he did not know a live round was loaded into the gun.

Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, said in a statement that the release of the videos by the sheriff’s department corroborates what his client said after the shooting happened, CNN reported.

>>Previous coverage: New Mexico fines ‘Rust’ production maximum amount after deadly on-set shooting

The production company overseeing the film, Rust Movie Productions LLC, was fined $137,000 last week by the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau for failures violating on-set safety protocols, The Associated Press reported.

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Photos: Alec Baldwin fired 'prop gun' that killed 'Rust' cinematographer, officials say The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office responds to the scene of a fatal accidental shooting at a Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set near Santa Fe, N.M., on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Authorities say a cinematographer has been killed and a director injured Thursday after they were shot by a prop firearm on the "Rust" movie set. (Luis Sanchez-Saturno//Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)

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