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good morning everybody and welcome to
the
santa fe county sheriff's office i'm
sheriff adam
first and foremost
first and foremost i'd like to offer our
condolences to the hutchins family
a speedy recovery to mr souza and our
concern for the safety
of all the men and women in the film
industry
on thursday october 21st 2001 at 1 48
p.m
we were dispatched to bonanza creek
ranch in reference to a
that two 911
had been shot on a movie set
the first deputy arrived at two o'clock
p.m and ems arrived at 201 pm
it was later determined that helena
hutchins the director of cinematography
and joel
souza the director had been shot while
rehearsing a scene on the movie rust
during the initial investigation it was
determined that actor producer alec
baldwin was the person that fired the
weapon
we identified two other people that
handled and or inspected the loaded
firearm prior to baldwin firing the
weapon
these two individuals are armor
hannah reed gutierrez
and assistant director david halls
all three individuals have been
cooperative in the investigation and
have provided statements
over the last few days our investigative
team has been working diligently
to conduct interviews
execute search warrants
and collect and process evidence from
the scene
during this process we determined that
there were a limited amount of movie set
staff president in the area where the
actual incident took place
although there were approximately a
hundred people on set
through the execution of search warrants
we have collected about 600 items of
evidence
these include but are not limited to
three firearms
approximately 500 rounds of ammunition
and several pieces of clothing and
accessories
we believe that we have in our
possession the firearm that was fired by
mr baldwin
this is the vir this is the firearm we
believe discharged the bullet
we also believe that we have the spent
shell casing from the bullet that was
fired from the gun
the actual lead projectile that was
fired has been recovered from the
shoulder of mr souza
the projectile was recovered by medical
personnel where he was being treated and
turned over to the sheriff's office as
evidence
we regard this specific spent casing
and recovered projectile to be the live
round that was fired from the revolver
by mr baldwin
we have recovered what we believe to be
possible additional live rounds on set
all the previous mentioned items along
with other items of evidence
will be submitted to the fbi crime lab
in quantico virginia for analysis
we are working thoroughly to gather all
the facts of the investigation
continue interviews and further further
analyze the pro and process the evidence
i want to ensure the victims their
families and the public
that we are conducting a thorough and
objective investigation
in reference to possible charges
it's too early right now in the
investigation to comment on charges at
this point
the investigation will continue and if
the sheriff's office determines during
our investigation a crime has occurred
and probable cause exists arrest
an arrest or arrest will be made and
charges will be filed
otherwise we will complete our
investigation and forward the full
investigation and evidence to the
district attorney for review
before turning it over to the district
attorney i'd like to thank our investor
investigations division for all their
hard work and diligence in this case the
santa fe county public safety department
ems and recc
and the local fbi office for their
support and assistance in this case
also
uh the district attorney's office staff
that has been working side by side with
us during this case
i'd like to introduce first judicial
district attorney
mary carmich al-weiss
good morning
my name is mary carmack altwies and i am
the first judicial district attorney
thank you
which includes my jurisdiction includes
santa fe county
i echo the sentiments of sheriff mendoza
and want to send my condolences to the
family friends and tight-knit film
community impacted by this tragedy
we mourn the loss of helena hutchins and
the injury to joel souza
i also specifically want to thank the
santa fe county sheriff's department for
so thoroughly and actively investigating
this incident
our office appreciates your hard work
and together we will ensure that this
investigation is held to the highest
standards
i speak to the prosecutorial perspective
here
and i must emphasize that a complete and
thorough investigation is critical to
d.a review
we take the corroborated facts and
evidence and connect it to new mexico
law
and we are not at that juncture yet
if the facts and evidence and law
support charges then i will initiate
prosecution at that time
i am a prosecutor that was elected in
part because i do not make rash
decisions and i do not rush to judgment
i rely on facts supported by evidence
cooperative and credible witnesses and i
cannot stress the importance of allowing
the santa fe county sheriff's office to
continue with their quality
investigation that is both serious and
complex
so at this point we will open it up to
questions
so i think what we've learned is is we
suspect that there was other live rounds
that were found on the set i won't
comment further on how they got there
that's still part of a uh this
investigation is active so i won't
comment on how they got there but we
know we suspect that they are there that
will be up it will be determined when
when the testing is done by the crime
lab in reference to whether or not they
are officially live rounds or not
that's that's uh what we're trying to
determine um the
the people that inspected or handled the
the firearm when it was loaded uh before
it got to mr baldwin we're interviewing
and there's some follow-up questions
that we need to do so there's uh further
investigation further interviews and uh
and we'll get we're going to try and
determine exactly how that happened and
if they should have known that there was
a live round in that firearm
no i said there was a total of 500
rounds of ammunition that is a mix of
blanks
dummy rounds and what we are suspecting
live rounds
well we know it was a lead projectile
it's still to be determined by the
ballistic analysis by the fbi crime lab
exactly uh what the weight of that
bullet is uh maybe uh whether or not it
was fired from that actual firearm
they'll be the riflings and things will
be tested and uh and compared so there's
a lot of testing that that needs to be
done to ensure that that projectile left
that firearm and so that's what we
suspect
that may be a
question better answered by the district
attorney
um
all options are on the table at this
point i'm not taking i'm not commenting
on charges whether they will be filed or
not or on whom so
the answer is we we cannot answer that
question yet until we complete a more
thorough investigation
no one has been ruled out at this point
he's obviously the person that fired the
weapon so we're going to continue
interviewing and getting to getting the
facts of his statements and the evidence
and the case and possible witnesses or
anybody that has any information so
right now he is an active part of this
investigation
we hope so as of right now um
everybody is cooperating with statements
and interviews
what does that mean specifically
so basically um there are a lot of
interviews that have to be done okay
we've determined that there were a
limited amount of people or movie staff
that were actually um in the vicinity of
the incident so there's there's also was
approximately 90 people on the movie set
itself so there's a lot of interviews
that need to be done uh still in this in
this case and that's going to be
important um there's a lot of facts that
are that are floating around i wouldn't
say facts there's maybe facts and rumors
that are floating around and it's our
job to uh to figure out if they're if
they are facts or rumors
so
we would consider it a live round
um a bullet live because it did fire
from the weapon and obviously caused the
death of mrs hutching and and injured mr
you take into souza the previous
accusations of unset unsafe practices
and negligence on other sets we know you
will resist that there are reports
coming out for hannah and david of
negligence
practices on other
well
that's up to the district attorney to
determine how much that's going to weigh
but we are going to follow up on some of
those statements that are made um that
there were other incidents we definitely
want to speak to anybody that has any
information in reference to safety
issues on further sets or whether
there were other issues and we would
encourage them to call the sheriff's
office at
505-986-2490 with any information they
may have
so we can get a a good idea what the
totality of the circumstances are on
this set and what's happening in the
industry
and that is something that will play
into our legal analysis when we get the
completed investigation from the
sheriff's department it obviously could
play into whether charges get filed or
in charges but can not speak broadly to
what your office is examining when it
comes to an accidental shooting versus
weighing negligence like what your
office specifically looks at when we get
to that point
when we get to that point yes i will
speak to it i don't know that we are at
that point yet um because again we can't
say that it was negligent by negligence
by whom
how many people were involved we can't
say that with any certainty at this
point so when we get to that point yes i
will speak to that
um i will i will talk in reference to
the caliber of the actual weapon that
was fired by mr baldwin that uh that
firearm was an
f lee pierre
long colt 45 revolver
there there were other there was other
ammunition in the gun that we believe
was fired by mr baldwin
as of right now there were three
firearms that were located on uh the set
within close proximity to the uh to the
incident
um
we're still going to determine we'll
send the firearm that was fired by mr
baldwin to the crime lab and do a
functionality test obviously it did fire
a live round um the other weapon is uh a
single action army 45 revolver that one
looks like there's some modification to
the cylinder it may not be functioning
but that won't that'll be determined by
the crime lab the other firearm is a
plastic non-functioning
on the side revolver course people i
mean obviously uh walked out and
six hours before the accident and
people drinking or crew members drinking
the night before relax conditions can
you talk about that and specifically was
there tension
i won't stop i won't talk about
specifics but we are aware of those um
of those rumors or those statements that
have been made and we're we'll we'll do
we're gonna do the best to track those
down
there was a search warrant that was
issued in reference to any camera
footage um there was camera footage but
i can say that there was no footage of
the actual incident
how much
i think once we gather all the
statements of fact once we do all the
interviews then that will be weighed by
the district attorney to see exactly uh
you know what uh you know what weight
that's going to give in reference to her
decision to making charges
not at this time
just generally he has been cooperative
in this investigation
i won't comment on on my perception of
his demeanor
i won't comment on that
i'll say right now until un until it's
proven by the crime lab it's a suspected
live round that was fired but it did
fire from the weapon and the disc did
caught in it caused injuries so that
would lead us to believe that it was a
live round
well obviously uh i think the industry
has has had a record recently of being
safe i think there was some complacency
on this set and uh i think there are
some safety issues that need to be
addressed by the industry and possibly
by the state of new mexico but i'll
leave that up to uh to the industry and
the state to determine what those need
to be
is
no
no there's no president whatsoever
it is a very complex case um it will
require lots of legal research and
analysis and review that's what my team
is here for and that's that's how we're
assisting the sheriffs at this point um
that said again we don't know how that's
going to play in until we get that that
complete
sheriff was the investigation taken from
the director's shoulder removed from the
director's shoulder is that the same
projectile that killed elena
we will leave that up to the office of
medical investigator to determine but uh
it's it's apparently the same round
going back to the questions
we are aware of those statements and we
are investigating um whether or not that
is true or it isn't true and i would
encourage anybody that has any
information that any target practicing
or any firearm was discharged um away
from the movie set or or for practice or
or for for whatever reason to to contact
the sheriff's office
i'm sorry
well i think the facts are clear uh a
weapon was handed to uh mr baldwin the
weapon is functional and fired a live
round
killing miss hutchins and injuring mr
souza
so
this feels almost like a false statement
to police if if the armor is going to
say that there should never be a live
round on that yet there was what's your
next step as a law enforcement
investigator
we know there was one live round as far
as we're concerned on set we're gonna
determine whether we suspect that there
were other live rounds but that's up to
the testing but right now we're gonna
determine how those got there why they
were there because they shouldn't have
been there
i'm sorry who were you asking about
he's been cooperative i'm not exactly
sure if is it president's whereabouts
i won't talk about the specifics of that
that's still um
being investigated
and we'll get more information about
whether charges
yeah i don't i i'll stay away from an
actual timeline i know you know based
like on what i said there's
several individuals that need to be
interviewed and from those interviews
comes new information and that we need
to track down so i don't want to put a
timeline on it i want i want everybody
to know that we're working diligently
our investigative team is uh to wrap
this up uh
thoroughly and uh and completely and so
uh there is no timeline we wanna get all
the facts get all the statements and
present that to the district attorney's
office for review
as questions come up
other information comes to light there
may be follow-up interviews and and so i
would uh suspect that we would want to
re-interview them
well there was a small number of people
within the set area where the incident
took place those people have been
interviewed i'm talking about 100 people
um in in the unseen in different areas
so those people that were in close
proximity to the incident they've been
interviewed
not that we're aware
i'm not gonna answer hypotheticals today
i will say there there is a bridge and
it will take uh
many more facts corroborated facts
before we can get to that criminal
negligence standard and again they're
they're gathering that as we speak
i can't say that without without
specifically legally researching that
but my off-the-cuff answer is not
anytime firearms are involved there's
the safety is is paramount i'll say that
anybody knows that if you know anything
about firearms anytime a firearm is
around or about
safety is paramount
um i don't let my emotions get involved
this is an investigation we rely on the
facts thank you
the information that i received from the
detectives there were 16 people in in
the vicinity of where the incident took
place
thank you for all your questions i
really appreciate it but i think that's
all the questions we're taking today
unless the d.a would like to entertain
any more good
thank you thank you
for spanish