Hollywood’s elites have a habit of avoiding problems in which ordinary people would be held accountable. The majority of the instances are simple enough to dismiss. Usually, they’re just filler for Hollywood rumors. When a narrative involves a death, though, people pay attention.
That’s one of the rumors surrounding Alec Baldwin’s alleged unintentional shooting of Halyna Hutchins. Hutchins worked as a cinematographer on Baldwin’s ill-fated Western “Rust.” On October 21, 2021, she was shot and died at the hands of Baldwin while in the process of filming a scene.
New photos and body cam footage show Baldwin practicing his draw prior to the fatal shooting. A second stray bullet from the F.lli Pietta 45 Long Colt Revolver wounded Director Joel Souza. The Santa Fe, New Mexico Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting.
Investigators released a trove of records recently. They included many of the investigative files from the sheriff’s office. Included were crime scene photos, body cam footage, staff photos, dash cam footage, and other evidence.
The public surge to view the document release was so widespread that the Dropbox folder containing the files crashed. The various documents were unavailable for nearly three hours before the system came back online.
The Santa Fe Sheriff’s office insisted that the investigation is still ongoing. No determination has been released. Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza made an appearance on the “Today” show on Tuesday.
The sheriff said, “We’re still waiting on the forensics from the FBI crime lab, along with the final report from the office of the medical investigator, and there are a few things that we need to sure up with the investigation.”
He insisted that his office had yet to make a determination on the course of action. But Sheriff Mendoza did say that he felt there “was disorganization and a degree of negligence.” If the evidence warrants, Mendoza said any prosecutions would be up to the District Attorney’s Office.
The key mystery in this case is how live ammunition got into what was supposed to be a “cold gun.” Souza can even be heard announcing “cold gun” ahead of the eventual tragic killing of Hutchins. But a separate series of text messages are also part of the ongoing investigation.
These text messages between armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed and supplier Seth Kenney discuss live ammo. Mendoza said the recent information release was done to maintain transparency. The release of documents was part of a standard public information request.
Mendoza said his office has worked to maintain complete transparency in this investigation. It just continues to baffle most people how the fateful gun got loaded with live ammunition. Why didn’t Baldwin and other members of the crew exercise extra caution?
Who else knew about the text messages about live ammunition? There appears to be a growing number of coincidences. Did someone purposefully load the gun with live bullets? Regardless, somebody was negligent. Was it Baldwin? That’s going to be up to the Santa Fe D.A.