Weapon in ‘Rust’ Set Shooting Could Not Be Fired Without Pulling the Trigger, Forensic Investigators Find

FBI testing of the revolver used in the fatal shooting on the film set of Rust found that the weapon handled by Alec Baldwin could not have been fired without pulling the trigger, according to a new forensics report, contradicting the actor’s claims.

In October 2021, Baldwin had the gun while rehearsing a scene for the Western film when a shot fired, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. The weapon had somehow been supplied with live rounds. It also managed to get through multiple channels before getting declared a ‘cold gun,’ meaning the gun does not hold live rounds.

In December, Baldwin sat down with ABC News, stating he never pulled the trigger of the gun that shot Hutchins. “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” Baldwin said.

He described cocking the gun for the rehearsal as he talked through the scene: “So then I said to her, ‘Now in this scene, I’m going to the gun.’ And I said, ‘Do you want to see that?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ So I take the gun and I start to cock the gun. I’m not going to pull the trigger.”

Cocking the revolver readies the pistol to fire. When the trigger is pulled, the hammer drops at a force and strikes the primer of a round of ammunition causing the gun to fire.

The FBI handed the forensic report to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office as part of the ongoing investigation into the shooting.

The report found that the gun, a .45 Colt (.45 Long Colt) caliber F.lli Pietta single-action revolver, “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger” with the hammer partially cocked and when fully cocked “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger while the working internal components were intact and functional.”

FBI examiners also observed a malfunction of the gun during testing at the fully-cocked position noting “portions of the trigger sear and cylinder stop fractured while the hammer was struck.”

The report did note the limitations of the testing stating that they cannot exactly replicate the conditions.

The Santa Fe County investigation also focuses on how a live round of ammunition made it on set.

In April, Rust Movie Productions LLC was fined $137,000 “plain indifference to employee safety” on set, according to a report from New Mexico Environment Department’s Occupational Health & Safety Bureau.