A timeline of the Rust shooting incident and subsequent investigations

The Rust case, concerning the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins, has gone on for more than two years now. Alec Baldwin, who was wielding the prop gun that killed Hutchins, has been charged, had the charges dropped, and charged again in that time. Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has become a central figure of the investigation, despite her youth and inexperience. A central question to the investigation is why there was live ammo on the set to begin with—a question that prosecutors apparently still haven’t been able to answer.

Scroll on for a complete timeline of the shooting and subsequent investigation leading up to today.

October 21, 2021: The shooting occurs

While filming on the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside of Santa Fe, Baldwin fired a prop gun during a scene that killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.

According to the investigation conducted by police, assistant director David Halls handed the gun to Baldwin to film a scene inside the ranch’s church. Hall yelled “cold gun” to the cast and crew, indicating that the weapon did not contain live rounds. The gun went off in what was described as an accidental “misfire” by the film’s production team; both Souza and Hutchins were transported to a nearby hospital, where Hutchins was pronounced dead.

October 22, 2021: Rust crew cites safety concerns on set

Following the shooting, reports emerged that the crew had complained about safety issues on set prior to the incident; some crew members had even walked out and were reportedly replaced by non-union crew. Some complaints specifically targeted AD David Halls’ behavior, as stories emerged that he had been fired from a previous job after a crew member was injured by the unexpected firing of a gun on set.

October 25, 2021: Rust production shuts down

As the investigation into the shooting launched, the producers of Rust “made the decision to wrap the set at least until investigations are complete.” Meanwhile, the L.A. Times published the search warrant from the set which detailed the events leading up to the shooting and identified three individuals who handled the gun that day: Baldwin, Halls, and armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed.

October 27, 2021: 500 rounds of ammunition found on set

Further information began to emerge about the Rust set that painted an even clearer picture of an unsafe working environment. Per Variety, Sheriff Adan Mendoza said in a statement 500 rounds of ammunition—including blanks, dummy rounds and “possibly” live rounds—were recovered from the set. The sheriff stated in no uncertain terms that the live rounds “shouldn’t have been there” in the first place.

November 11, 2021: Alec Baldwin files lawsuit against Rust crew members

In what would become an ongoing effort to “clear his name,” Baldwin issued a cross complaint accusing Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, David Halls, prop master Sarah Zachry, and weapons supplier Seth Kenney of negligence. The suit claimed that due to these individuals, while Hutchins’ family suffered the most, Baldwin “must live with the immense grief, and the resulting emotional, physical, and financial toll.” Gloria Allred, representing Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell (who filed her own suit against Baldwin), accused the actor of “a shameful attempt to shift the blame to others.”

December 2, 2021: Alec Baldwin claims innocence in sit-down interview

In December, Baldwin broke his silence with an in-depth interview with ABC News in which he protested his complete innocence in the shooting. He claimed not to even have pulled the trigger of the gun. He stated that he pointed the weapon in the direction that Hutchins told him to, and had merely “let go of the hammer of the gun” when it went off. He claimed to have no knowledge of any safety complaints on set, and denied responsibility for the matter by stating he was a “purely creative producer.”

February 7, 2022: Alec Baldwin returns to work for the first time since Rust production

Just over three months after the shooting, Baldwin posted to Instagram to share that he’d returned to work (although not on Rust, which was still suspended indefinitely at the time).

Baldwin checked in from filming an undisclosed project in Hampshire, England, sharing: “I haven’t worked since Oct. 21st of last year when this horrible thing happened on the set of this film and we had the accidental death of our cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins… I still find that hard to say.”

February 15, 2022: The family of Halyna Hutchins files lawsuit against Baldwin

A new year didn’t mean any fewer Rust lawsuits, and Hutchins’ estate filed a wrongful death suit in February 2022 against Baldwin, as well as Rust’s production companies, producers, and multiple crew members. In a statement, attorney Brian Panish alleged that “reckless behavior and cost-cutting lead to the senseless tragic death of Halyna Hutchins.”

Panish also directly addressed Baldwin’s presence in the suit, stating: “There are many people culpable, but Mr. Baldwin was the person holding the weapon that, but [if not] for him shooting it, she would not have died.”

February 24, 2022: Halyna Hutchins’ husband speaks out

Hutchins’ husband Matt gave his first public interview on her loss in February, speaking with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb. During the conversation, he placed culpability for Hutchins’ death on both lackluster onset safety protocols and Alec Baldwin himself.

“The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me,” he said.

April 21, 2022: Rust production company fined

In late April, New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau (OHSB) slapped Rust’s production company with a $136,793 fine over Hutchins’ death— the maximum penalty for the film’s safety protocol failings. In the report, the OHSB cited the production’s “plain indifference to the safety of employees” on set.

Responding to the announcement on Instagram, Baldwin’s team expressed gratitude for the report; namely, how it “exonerates Mr. Baldwin by making clear that he believed the gun held only dummy rounds” and “recognizes that Mr. Baldwin’s authority on the production was limited to approving script changes and creative casting.”

August 12, 2022: FBI wraps investigation

In August, the FBI completed a forensic analysis of the shooting. In their report, they found that the gun involved “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger,” casting doubt on initial claims made by Baldwin that he never pulled the trigger.

October 5, 2022: A settlement is reached in lawsuit against Baldwin and Rust producers

Nearly a year after the shooting, Baldwin and Rust’s producers reached a settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Hutchins’ estate. As part of the agreement, the movie would complete production with Hutchins’ husband Matt Hutchins as an executive producer.

“I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Mr. Baldwin),” Hutchins said of the decision at the time. “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.”

October 20, 2022: Rust filming moves to California

After reaching a settlement, Rust production began seeking out a new location in California. An insider told Deadline at the time that it was “emotionally difficult for the crew and the cast to return to the same place” where Hutchins lost her life. Location scouting mostly focused around Palm Springs and the Nevada border.

January 19, 2023: Alec Baldwin charged with involuntary manslaughter

Alec Baldwin and Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed were both charged on January 19 with involuntary manslaughter. Dave Halls, assistant director on the film, already pled guilty to charges of “negligent use of a deadly weapon,” and will receive six months of probation, according to Variety.

February 9, 2023: Halyna Hutchins parents and sister file a lawsuit

Hutchins parents and sister, who live in Ukraine, filed their own civil lawsuit against Baldwin, Halls, Gutierrez-Reed, and the film’s producers. “To lose my sister … was a horrible experience, and it is one of the biggest losses of my life,” Hutchins’ sister, Svetlana, said in a video played at the press conference (led by lawyer Gloria Allred). “And even more devastating is to see the utter suffering of our parents and how their health has sharply declined … I believe to let this go, and to leave this unpunished, is unallowable.”

February 23, 2023: Rust producers settle with New Mexico

Also in February, the producers of Rust settled with New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau over a civil investigation into the shooting. Originally fined $136,793, the final penalty was $100,000, and the state agency downgraded the case from the most severe classification, “willful-serious,” to “serious,” per NBC News.

In a statement, a lawyer representing the Rust production company said, “Our top priority has always been resuming production and completing this film so we can honor the life and work of Halyna Hutchins. Settling this case rather than litigating is how we can best move forward to achieve that goal.”

March 14, 2023: Special prosecutor Rep. Andrea Reeb steps down

Hinting at the turmoil within the Santa Fe County District Attorney’s Office, Rep. Andrea Reeb stepped down as a special prosecutor in the case. Baldwin’s team argued that Reeb, a Republican state representative, needed to be excused from the case based on precautionary constitutional provisions aimed at maintaining separation between government branches. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Reeb had emailed Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies that the publicity “might help in my campaign lol.”

Days later, Carmack-Altwies also stepped down and appointed two new special prosecutors in their stead. “My responsibility to the people of the First Judicial District is greater than any one case, which is why I have chosen to appoint a special prosecutor in the ‘Rust’ case,” she said in a statement (via ABC News). “Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis will unflinchingly pursue justice in the death of Halyna Hutchins on behalf of the people of First Judicial District.”

April 20, 2023: Alec Baldwin charges are dropped (for now)

After first AD David Halls took a plea deal (for six months of unsupervised probation), charges against Alec Baldwin—which had already been reduced—were dropped. However, special prosecutors dropped the charges “without prejudice,” meaning there was still a chance he could be charged again later. The case against Hannah Gutierrez-Reed continued, with more charges for evidence tampering added later.

Meanwhile, Rust, which apparently had 20 to 25 days left of production, began filming again. Rory Kennedy reportedly began work on a documentary about the movie and the shooting, with Baldwin supposedly participating.

November 16, 2023: Leaked footage of Alec Baldwin handling guns on set

Special prosecutors received new evidence in October, some of which was leaked to NBC News in November, that included video footage of Alec Baldwin on the Rust set. Videos showed the actor expressing concern about safety as well as apparent rehearsal sessions with the prop guns.

Baldwin’s culpability was mainly in question as the performer wielding the gun. However, he was among the producers of Rust whom special prosecutors condemned for having “either intervened, interfered, or obstructed the criminal investigation in this case.” Special prosecutor Kari T. Morrissey previously stated that “This entire tragedy occurred because Rust Productions cut corners every chance they could, and they hired inexperienced and ill-equipped crew members.”

January 19, 2024: Alec Baldwin charged again

More than two years after the shooting and after having already dodged charges once, Alec Baldwin was indicted by a grand jury on one count of involuntary manslaughter. The charges were based on new forensic testing of the gun that killed Halyna Hutchins, which was damaged in the original investigation. A reconstruction of the gun by experts reportedly disproved Baldwin’s claim that the gun went off on its own, rather than him pulling the trigger.

The damaged gun is just one of many examples of an allegedly “sloppy” investigation. Per The Hollywood Reporter, no fingerprint or DNA analysis was ever done on the live rounds found on set in order to determine who might be responsible for bringing them into that environment. Prop master Sarah Zachry reporetedly admitted to disposing of the rounds in actor Jensen Ackles’ gun “to hide evidence, and those rounds were never recovered.” (Zachry agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for immunity.) “The conduct of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office during and after their initial investigation is reprehensible and unprofessional to a degree I still have no words for,” Robert Shilling, a former New Mexico State Police chief hired as an investigator by the prosecutors, wrote in an email resigning from the case—that was mistakenly sent to Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer. “Not I or 200 more proficient investigators than I can/could clean up the mess delivered to your office in October 2022.”

Baldwin’s trial is currently set for August 6. The actor is once again pleading not guilty; his conduct was defended by SAG-AFTRA, which released a statement of support saying “An actor’s job is not to be a firearms or weapons expert. Performers train to perform, and they are not required or expected to be experts on guns or experienced in their use.”

The trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed begins on February 21.