Alec Baldwin Rust shooting: Decision on criminal charges by district attorney expected later this month

Published

3 years ago

January 5, 2023

admin

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.

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.

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.

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.”

US

Trump says he will cancel all Biden executive orders ‘signed with autopen’

Published

1 day ago

November 29, 2025

admin

Trump says he will cancel all Biden executive orders 'signed with autopen'

Donald Trump has said he will cancel all executive orders that he claims were signed with an autopen by his predecessor Joe Biden.

The US president alleged Mr Biden was “not involved” in signing the orders and claimed “the radical left lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the presidency away from him”. He did not provide any evidence for his claims.

An autopen is a device which reproduces a person’s signature, allowing them to repeatedly sign documents without having to do so by hand each time.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said: “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect.

“The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States.”

He added: “I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally.

“Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury.”

Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed Mr Biden was not mentally capable by the end of his term and his staff made decisions on his behalf, using an autopen to sign them off without his knowledge.

Mr Trump has not provided any evidence for his claims, while Mr Biden and his former aides have denied they made decisions on his behalf.

In June, Mr Biden said: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency.

“I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

Mr Trump has also used an autopen, but claimed he only used it “for very unimportant papers”.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump replaced a portrait of Mr Biden in the Oval Office with a picture of an autopen signing the former president’s name.

US

Suspect in US National Guard shooting now facing first-degree murder charge

Published

1 day ago

November 28, 2025

admin

Suspect in US National Guard shooting now facing first-degree murder charge

The suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington DC is facing a first-degree murder charge.

It follows the death of one of the soldiers, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom.

The other soldier, Andrew Wolfe, 24, was taken to hospital in critical condition after the incident on Wednesday afternoon. On Friday, West Virginia’s governor said Wolfe remained in a “very critical condition”.

US attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said the suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, now faces charges including one count of first-degree murder, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.

Pirro said there are “many charges to come” beyond the upgraded murder charge and that Lakanwal had driven across the country to launch an “ambush-style” attack with a revolver.

She said her heart went out to the family of Beckstrom, who volunteered to serve and “ended up being shot ambush-style on the cold streets of Washington DC by an individual who will now be charged with murder in the first degree”.

President Donald Trump called Beckstrom, part of the West Virginia guard, a “highly respected” and “magnificent person”.

Investigators are continuing to execute warrants in the state of Washington, where the suspect lived, and other parts of the country, Pirro said.

However, she declined to discuss the suspect’s motive, saying officials have been working around the clock on that question.

Officials said Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration programme that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from the country.

People who knew him say he served in a CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before immigrating to the US.

Kristina Widman, who claims to be Lakanwal’s former landlord, said he had been living in Bellingham, close to Seattle, with his wife and five children.

The #AfghanEvac charity said Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration.

On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration.

The director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said in a statement that the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible”.

👉 Tap here to follow Trump100 wherever you get your podcasts👈

The President has since said he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the US by revoking their legal status.

Organisations that work with refugees are worried that those who fled dangerous situations to start again in America will face a backlash after the shooting.

US

US to review immigration from 19 countries after Washington DC double shooting

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

admin

US to review immigration from 19 countries after Washington DC double shooting

The US will review green cards issued to the citizens of 19 countries after two members of the National Guard were shot by a suspected Afghan gunman in Washington DC.

Immigration from Afghanistan has also been suspended indefinitely, the White House said, following the double shooting on Wednesday.

Joseph Edlow, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), revealed the order from President Trump.

He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”

Asked which countries would be affected, USCIS pointed to a presidential proclamation from June listing 19 countries.

The proclamation sought to “fully restrict” arrivals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

It also “partially” restricted arrivals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been named as the suspected gunman in this week’s shooting and has been detained.

He worked as part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, and reportedly came to the States under a programme meant to help Afghans who’d risked their lives assisting US troops in Afghanistan.

He’s thought to have driven thousands of miles to the capital from his home in Washington state, where he lives with his wife and five children.

Attorney general Pam Bondi called him “a lone gunman” who “opened fire without provocation, ambush style”.

President Trump described him as a “savage monster”.

He was granted asylum in April this year, according to NBC News.

One of his victims, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died of her wounds, while the other, Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in a critical condition.

Lakanwal reportedly came to the US under Operation Allies Welcome, a programme enacted by former President Joe Biden after he pulled American forces out of Afghanistan in 2021.

Edlow explictly targeted the previous president as he announced the new green card regime.

He wrote on X: “The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies.”

Speaking after the attack, President Trump was even more caustic.

He said: “The suspect in custody is a foreigner, who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth.

“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about.

“His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden – a disastrous president, the worst in the history of our country.”

👉 Tap here to follow Trump100 wherever you get your podcasts👈

He continued: “This attack underscores the greatest national security threat facing our nation.

“The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world, from places that you don’t even want to know about.

“No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival.”