The sheriff overseeing the case said Thursday his main focus is finding out exactly who was responsible for bringing live ammunition onto the set.
Alec Baldwin has been laying low with his family in Vermont as the investigation continues into last week’s tragic shooting on the set of “Rust.”
Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza said he wasn’t sure of Baldwin’s whereabouts, but Baldwin and his wife, Hilaria, were spotted with their kids outside a pizza restaurant in Manchester.
The scenic town is about a four-hour drive from the actor’s Manhattan apartment. Hilaria’s family has deep roots in the area.
Even though Baldwin is no longer in New Mexico, it’s clear he is following the investigation, tweeting an article from The New York Times that connects the fatal shooting to the film’s assistant director, Dave Halls.
Halls told a detective he “should have inspected each round in each chamber,” before handing the gun to Baldwin, but did not, according to an affidavit.
Scott Rasmussen, who works as a movie set armorer, says he worked with Halls on the 2017 film “Shot Caller.” He told Inside Edition that Halls seemed lax about gun safety protocols.
“He didn't come to all the weapons inspections prior to filming,” Rasmussen said. “It’s typical for a first [assistant director] to be right there, because they are the ones who are actually running the show on the set.”
The armorer also says he was asked to work on “Rust” in New Mexico, but had major concerns.
“To me, the biggest red flag was that they wanted me to be the props master and the key armorer,” Rasmussen said. “And I ask them, ‘Does that mean you’re not gonna have an armorer?’ And they said, ‘Right, you’d be the only armorer on the show,’ And I’m like, ‘You have a lot of gunfire going on, right?’”
Veteran prop master Neal Zoromski also told Inside Edition he turned down a job on “Rust” because the production was cutting corners.
Meanwhile, Baldwin’s daughter Ireland is now tweeting in support of her dad, telling followers that despite receiving, “abhorrent and threatening comments, emails, text messages, and voicemails...I know my dad, you simply don’t. I love you, Dad.”
The sheriff overseeing the case said Thursday his main focus is finding out exactly who was responsible for bringing live ammunition onto the set.
