Alec Baldwin latest news: Actor breaks silence as Halyna Hutchins’s husband welcomes charges in Rust shooting

“The prosecutor’s contention that an actor has a duty to ensure the functional and mechanical operation of a firearm on a production set is wrong and uninformed. An actor’s job is not to be a firearms or weapons expert,” read the actors guild’s statement, without naming Baldwin.

And the statement continued: “The Industry Standards for safety with firearms and use of blank ammunition are ​clearly laid out ​in Safety Bulletin 1, provided by the​ Joint​ Industry-Wide Labor Management Safety Commission. The guidelines require an experienced, qualified armorer to be put in charge of all handling, use, and safekeeping of firearms on set. These duties include “inspecting the firearm and barrel before and after every firing sequence,” and “checking all firearms before each use.”

“The guidelines do not make it the performer’s responsibility to check any firearm. Performers ​train to perform, and they are not required or expected to be experts on guns or experienced in their use. The industry assigns that responsibility to qualified professionals who oversee their use and handling in every aspect. Anyone issued a firearm on set must be ​given training and guidance in its safe handlin​g and use,​ but all activity with firearms on a set must be under the careful supervision and control of the professional armorer and the employer.”

Alec Baldwin has had a career in TV and film for more than three decades. He is best known for his roles in 30 Rock, and has had roles in Beetlejuice, Glengarry Glen Ross and The Departed. He has also received acclaim for his impression of Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.

Here, The Independent’s Ellie Harrison takes a look at his career highlights and lowlights.

Prosecutors announced Thursday that Baldwin will face two counts of involuntary manslaughter over Hutchins’s death on the movie set of Rust.

In a statement to The Independent, attorney Luke Nikas said: “This decision distorts Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice.

Read the full story by Bevan Hurley here:

Halyna Hutchins was born Halyna Anatoliivna Androsovych in 1979 in the Ukrainian village of Horodets.

She grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle, later attending Kyiv National University and graduating with a degree in international journalism. She then pursued her first career, working as an investigative journalist for British documentary productions in eastern Europe.

Hutchins first became interested in film while living at the military base. It was after her work as an investigative journalist that she decided to move to Los Angeles to focus on filmmaking, initially working in various production assistant roles and as a grip electric, while working on shooting short films.

The Independent’s Ellie Muir has more on Hutchins’ biography.

The actor has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of ‘Rust’. Clémence Michallon writes about what comes next:

In an interview with CNN, New Mexico first judicial district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies explained how she had come to charge Alec Baldwin and armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed with involuntary manslaughter.

She explained that just because a fatal shooting was accidental, as was the case in Halyna Hutchins’ death, didn’t mean that no one could be held criminally liable.

“There was such a lack of safety and safety standards on that set… There were live rounds on set,” she told CNN.

“Nobody was checking those or at least they weren’t checking them consistently. And then they somehow got loaded into a gun handed off to Alec Baldwin. He didn’t check it.

“He didn’t do any of the things that he was supposed to do to make sure that he was safe or that anyone around him was safe. And then he pointed the gun at Halyna Hutchins and he pulled the trigger.”

Ms Carmack-Altwies described the production as “a really fast and loose set”.

Piers Morgan has commented on the news that Alec Baldwin will be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 shooting of Halyna Hutchins.