Alec Baldwin’s Big Claim About ‘Rust’ Shooting Just Got Busted by Forensics

When the FBI isn’t raiding the home of a former president and seizing the phones of Democrat political opponents, they apparently still dabble in legitimate police work from time to time. According to a new report, Alec Baldwin’s biggest defense following the shooting and killing of a co-worker on the set of ‘Rust’ has been disproven.

As RedState reported extensively on at the time, Baldwin discharged a .45 caliber revolver while filming the movie in New Mexico. Halayna Hutchins, a cinematographer, was fatally struck. Baldwin has claimed multiple times that he shares no liability for the act, going so far as to have his lawyers claim that he was “exonerated” following a report put out by the New Mexico Health and Safety Bureau.

The actor might not be out of hot water yet, though. The FBI has found that his story of a malfunctioning gun where the trigger wasn’t pulled is not true, having done tests to confirm that the revolver could have only been fired otherwise. According to TMZ, that news comes from a forensics report given to the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department.

Per ABC, citing part of the FBI report, the feds found that the revolver in question — a single-action .45 Colt caliber F.lli Pietta — could not have been fired without someone pulling the trigger … a determination they made after conducting accidental discharge testing.

Unclear if they did this testing with the same exact gun Alec used, or a separate but identical one — but what the FBI notes in their reports is … that gun, when working properly, will not release a bullet and primer simultaneously by just fiddling with the hammer alone.

That’s what Alec said he was doing when the shooting occurred. You’ll recall … in a sit-down interview with ABC, he claimed all he’d done was pull the hammer back and pose it for the camera while Halyna coached him on positioning. When they were done, he released the hammer … and says it fired without him pulling the trigger. The rest, of course, is history.

The original ABC report also notes that local authorities are preparing to hand the case off to the district attorney, who will then make a charging decision based on the tragic incident. Will Baldwin end up charged with a crime? I would say that’s still unlikely. No evidence has emerged to suggest he secretly meant to shoot and kill Hutchins, and given the context of this being a movie set and a supposedly “cold” gun, him brandishing the firearm would not be a factor.

On the issue of civil liability, though, I think this report is damning for Baldwin. Hutchin’s family is already suing the D-list actor, and now that there is forensic evidence that he directly pulled the trigger, his responsibility for what happened becomes much easier to prove in court.

I guess the final issue is whether Baldwin has been knowingly lying this whole time about not pulling the trigger. Given his demonstrated lack of character, that’s probably a good bet, though I can’t read the guy’s mind. Either way, he has not acted like someone who shot and killed someone should act, and whether it’s criminal charges or just losing a lot of money in court, some consequences seem due.