Alec Baldwin Rust shooting: Decision on criminal charges by district attorney expected later this month
Prosecutors in New Mexico are expected to make a decision on whether or not to file charges in relation to the fatal Rust film shooting by the end of this month, Sky News understands.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died after a prop gun held by actor Alec Baldwin was discharged during rehearsals for the western film on the Bonanza Creek Ranch set in Santa Fe in October 2021.
Almost a year later, in October 2022, Baldwin and the Rust production company reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount with the cinematographer’s family following a wrongful death lawsuit, and announced that production of the film would resume in 2023.
Alec Baldwin pictured on set following the tragedy. Pic: Sante Fe Police
Following the announcement, Santa Fe’s district attorney (DA) said the criminal investigation would continue despite the civil settlement.
DA Mary Carmack-Altwies had been granted additional funding of $317,750 (about £282,900) to investigate the high-profile case – saying at the time in a letter to the State of New Mexico Board of Finance, seen by Sky News, that she anticipated prosecuting “up to four individuals” if it was found charges were warranted.
In the letter, she said that “many individuals had handled the gun that ultimately killed Hutchins”.
While there is no set timeline for her announcement on charges, a decision is expected later in January.
In the DA’s statement following the civil settlement in October, a spokesperson for her office said: “The proposed settlement in Matthew Hutchins’ wrongful death case against Rust movie producers, including Alec Baldwin, in the death of Halyna Hutchins, will have no impact on District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies’ ongoing investigation or her ultimate decision whether to file criminal charges in the case.
“While civil suits are settled privately and often involve financial awards, criminal cases deal only in facts. If the facts and evidence warrant criminal charges under New Mexico law then charges will be brought.
“No one is above the law.”
Details of what the charges could be, if the DA decides to move forward with prosecution, have not been released, but the prosecutor is understood to have been looking at all New Mexico laws that might be applicable to the case – which could include involuntary manslaughter and negligent use of a deadly weapon.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Pic: Swen Studios/ Reuters
Baldwin’s ‘immense grief’ detailed in his own lawsuit
Several other civil lawsuits have been filed in relation to the case.
In November, Baldwin filed his own lawsuit against the film’s armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed – who was in charge of guns on set – and three other crew members, including assistant director Dave Halls, as a cross-complaint to a previous suit in which a different member of the crew named the actor and others as defendants.
Baldwin, 64, is a producer as well as the star of the film.
His cross-complaint alleges negligence and seeks damages to be determined at trial, for the “immense grief” he has endured as a result of Hutchins’ death.
Read more:
The Rust shooting, one year on
‘Someone is responsible… It’s not me’: Baldwin’s first TV interview
In a TV interview in December 2021, the actor said the Colt .45 revolver misfired as he cocked it and that he did not pull the trigger. He also questioned how live rounds came to be on set.
An FBI forensic test of the single-action revolver found it “functioned normally” and would not fire without the trigger being pulled.
In another interview in August 2022, Baldwin responded to the FBI’s report concluding that the gun’s trigger had been pulled, saying the bullet could have fired through a process called “fanning”.
The restart on production of Rust was due to begin this month, with Matthew Hutchins executive producing and director Joel Souza – who was injured in the shooting – returning at the helm.
However, the location for filming was due to move from New Mexico to California, according to reports.
What did the separate parties say about the settlement of Matthew Hutchins’ lawsuit?
The undisclosed settlement between Hutchins’ family, Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions was announced on 5 October 2022.
“I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Mr Baldwin),” Matthew Hutchins said in a statement. “All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work.”
Rust Movie Productions, through attorney Melina Spadone, said it marked “an important step forward in celebrating Halyna’s life and honouring her work”.
Alec Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, said: “Throughout this difficult process, everyone has maintained the specific desire to do what is best for Halyna’s son. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the resolution of this tragic and painful situation.”
The suspect who opened fire on two National Guard soldiers just blocks from the White House is an Afghan national who worked with a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, according to officials.
He worked with “the US government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar” during the US-led war in the country, CIA director John Ratcliffe has said.
The suspect, who has been pictured for the first time, was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested.
He was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal. Pic: Reuters
Attorney general Pam Bondi said the US government plans to bring terrorism charges against the gunman and seek a sentence of life in prison “at a minimum”.
“A lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush style, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver,” she told reporters.
US Attorney for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro identified the two wounded Guard members as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24.
She said they had been sworn in as National Guard members fewer than 24 hours before the shooting.
Andrew Wolfe and Sarah Beckstrom. Pic: Reuters
Ms Pirro said the suspect ambushed them while they were patrolling near the White House. He shot one Guardsman who fell and then shot again before firing multiple times at the second Guardsman with the Magnum handgun.
Numerous electronic devices seized from suspect’s home
The suspect “drove his vehicle cross-country from the state of Washington with the intended target of coming to our nation’s capital,” Ms Pirro said.
The FBI searched multiple properties in Washington state and San Diego on Thursday in what officials said was a terrorism probe into the DC shooting.
Investigators seized numerous electronic devices from the suspect’s house in Washington state, including cellphones, laptops, and iPads, FBI director Kash Patel told a news conference.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program to resettle Afghans who assisted the US during the war and feared reprisals from the Taliban after the withdrawal.
An unnamed relative of the suspect has said that Lakanwal served in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside US Special Forces troops and was stationed in Kandahar for part of that time.
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The relative also said Lakanwal was working for online retail giant Amazon.com the last time they spoke several months ago, according to Sky’s US partner NBC News.
A Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity has said that Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on 23 April of this year.
Lakanwal had no known criminal history, the official said.
US President Donald Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a prerecorded video statement late on Wednesday calling the shooting “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror”.
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Trump has called for every Afghan national who entered the US under Biden to be investigated following the shooting of two National Guard troops.
He said his administration would “re-examine” all Afghans who arrived in the US during the presidency of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency has said it has halted processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, “pending further review of security and vetting protocols”.
In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the president requested an additional 500 National Guard troops to bolster the more than 2,000 already deployed in the nation’s capital.
In August, Trump ordered the National Guard to the city to combat rising crime, a move that drew objections from District of Columbia officials who argued in court that it violated local authority.
Two military personnel have been shot near the White House in Washington DC.
A suspect has been taken into custody and the area secured, police said.
The White House was placed into lockdown, while US President Donald Trump is away in Florida.
Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform to say the two National Guard members had been “critically wounded”, adding that the “animal” that shot them “is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price”.
Washington DC shooting latest updates
Pics: AP
Both guardsmen were shot in the head, according to Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, quoting an official and a senior official directly briefed on the investigation.
The shooting will be investigated by the FBI as a possible act of terror, two senior US law enforcement officials told NBC.
The suspect, who used a handgun in the attack, has been initially identified as an Afghan national, the officials said.
But investigators are still trying to confirm all of the individual’s details.
West Virginia’s governor initially said both victims were members of his state’s National Guard and had died from their injuries – but later posted to say there were “conflicting reports about the condition of our two Guard members”.
Patrick Morrisey had said: “These brave West Virginians lost their lives in the service of their country.”
Pic: AP
FBI director Kash Patel said two National Guard members were “brazenly attacked in a horrendous act of violence”.
At a news conference he clarified they were in a “critical condition”.
Jeff Carroll, chief of the metropolitan police department in the area, said the attack began at 2.15pm local time (7.15pm in the UK) while National Guard members were on “high visibility patrols in the area”.
He said: “A suspect came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged it at the National Guard.
“The National Guard members were… able to – after some back and forth – able to subdue the individual and bring them into custody.”
Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser called the attack a “targeted shooting”.
Pics: AP
Social media footage showed first responders attempting CPR on one of the soldiers as they treated the other on a pavement covered in glass.
Nearby other officers could be seen restraining an individual on the ground.
Emergency personnel cordon off an area near where the National Guard soldiers were shot. Pics: AP
The scene has been cordoned off by police tape, while agents from the US Secret Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene, as National Guard troops stood sentry nearby. The FBI was also on the scene, the agency’s director said.
The Joint DC Task Force confirmed it was responding to an incident in the vicinity of the White House.
The DC Police Department posted on X: “Critical Incident: MPD is on the scene of a shooting at 17th and I Street, NW. Please avoid the area.”
In an update, the force said: “The scene is secured. One suspect is in custody.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “The White House is aware and actively monitoring this tragic situation.
“The president has been briefed.”
Mr Trump was at his resort in Palm Beach ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, while US vice president JD Vance was in Kentucky.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said Mr Trump had asked for 500 more troops to be deployed to Washington DC after the shooting.
Flights arriving at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were temporarily halted due to its proximity to the scene of the shooting, the US Federal Aviation Administration said.
Hundreds of National Guard members have been patrolling the nation’s capital after Mr Trump issued an emergency order in August, which federalised the local police force and sent in the guard from eight states and the District of Columbia.
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