(Photo : Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 09: Alec Baldwin attends the 2021 RFK Ripple Of Hope Gala at New York Hilton Midtown on December 09, 2021 in New York City.
New Mexico authorities issued a search warrant on Thursday for actor Alec Baldwin's mobile phone as part of the investigation into the "Rust" incident that resulted in the death of one and injury of another.
Officials said that the actor's cell phone could hold crucial evidence or information that could prove useful amid their probe of the fatal shooting. During the incident, Baldwin was wielding a revolver amid a rehearsal for a scene when it suddenly fired.
Search Warrant for Baldwin's Phone
The actor has continued to claim that it was cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who is the fatal victim of the incident, who asked him to point the gun just off-camera toward her armpit. The injured individual was identified to be director Joel Souza.
Baldwin said that when he pointed the gun at Hutchins, he pulled the hammer back and it suddenly fired when he let it go. The actor has repeatedly claimed that he was unaware that the gun he was holding contained a live round, the Associated Press reported.
Sheriff's Office Det. Alexandria Hancock said in a search warrant approved by a judge that authorities were requesting a warrant for the seizure and search of Baldwin's cell phone. They said that the efforts were to help in their investigation of Hutchins' death.
The affidavit added that the mobile phone could hold evidence because it was a common event for criminals to use their phones during and/or after they committed a crime. Officials said that if such information exists on Baldwin's phone, it may be material and relevant to the Rust probe.
Officials also said that they later discovered there were various email and text messages that were sent and received regarding the movie production Rust in the court of the interviews. Despite Baldwin's continued communication with Det. Hancock, the actor's lawyer has refused to hand over his client's phone without an explicit warrant, Deadline reported.
"Rust" Shooting Incident
The search warrant approved by a judge authorized police officials to review all of Baldwin's text messages and photos stored within his phone. It also grants law enforcement personnel access to the actor's stored location data.
The 42-year-old fatal victim of the Rust shooting incident died on Oct. 21 when she was struck by a projectile from a prop gun that Baldwin was holding. The actor repeatedly claimed that he believed there were only "dummy" rounds inside the weapon and insisted that he never pulled the trigger.
The search warrant revealed that Baldwin spoke with police officers and said that he exchanged emails with the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed about the style of the gun to use in the filming. Gutierrez Reed told law enforcement personnel that she placed five empty rounds into the gun before lunch on the day of the shooting incident.
However, she said that she did not "really check it too much" after lunch, saying she had some trouble loading another empty round. Gutierrez Reed's lawyer suggested that the set could have been the victim of "sabotage" but discounted the possibility that anyone would be "that malicious to bring live ammo onto the set," Yahoo News reported.
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