Amidst the ongoing Rust movie shooting investigation, Santa Fe Police have issued a warrant for the seizure and search of Alec Baldwin's phone. The Rust shooting investigation has been ongoing since the incident first took place on October 21, 2021. While shooting the Western film, Rust, in New Mexico, a gun held by Baldwin discharged, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. Baldwin believed it to be a cold gun, but it was later discovered the gun was loaded with a live round. As of now, no charges have been filed, but the investigation is certainly still underway and new developments continue to arise.
The investigation has so far uncovered a possible explanation for how live ammunition came to be on the set in the first place. A supplier, Seth Kenney, was supposed to supply the set with blanks and dummies, however, he may have sent recycled live rounds instead. While the source of ammunition may be answered, the investigation still must determine how the gun came to be loaded with the live ammunition and went unnoticed by all. Further answers may be forthcoming after Rust assistant director, David Halls, was issued a subpoena and requested to meet with officials after avoiding interviews from OSHA. Halls is also not the only one requested to give more information pertaining to the incident.
As reported by Deadline, Santa Fe Police have requested Baldwin give up his phone as part of the Rust shooting investigation. While Baldwin has been cooperative with police, his lawyers had refused to give up the phone without a warrant. Now, the warrant has been issued and approved upon the police establishing a probable cause for seizing the phone. The phone will be searched for any evidence pertaining to Hutchins' death after interviews with witnesses suggested e-mails and text messages may have been sent regarding Rust's production. Read Detective Alexandria Hancock's statement below:
Affiant is requesting a warrant for the seizure and search of Alec Baldwins’ cell phone to search for any evidence relating to the death investigation of Halyna Hutchins. Affiant believes there may be evidence on the phone, due to individuals using cellular phones during and/or after the commission of crime(s). Such information, if it exists, may be material and relevant to this investigation. Affiant was also made aware there were several emails and text messages sent and received regarding the movie production Rust in the course of interviews. Affiant has not included every fact related to this investigation, but has included only those facts Affiant believes are necessary to establish probable cause, for the issuance of a search warrant for the above mentioned device.
It remains to be seen what, if any, information is to be found from Baldwin's phone. With such sparse details one can only speculate on what exactly the police are expecting to find on the device. Baldwin's lawyers have issued their own statement indicating that their decision to withhold the phone until the issuing of a warrant was merely to protect Baldwin and his family. They are confident if anything is found on Baldwin's phone it will be to proof that he is not civically or criminally responsible for the incident. While Baldwin and his lawyers continue defending his innocence, the police seem equally convinced that they do have something that necessitates the phone seizure.
There is no proof yet that there is anything incriminating on Baldwin's phone, however, the fact that the police have reason to believe that there is, is an interesting development. While the details are scant, the police did point to potential e-mails and text messages pertaining to the Rust incident. As of now, multiple lawsuits have been filed against Baldwin, and he has received quite a bit of scrutiny since the incident. Instead of remaining quiet during the investigation, however, Baldwin has chosen to publicly address the incident in multiple interviews. Now that his phone has been seized, one can't help but wonder if his private account of the incident differs at all from the account he has reinforced to the public. Since the warrant has already been granted, there is the potential that another development in the Rust shooting investigation may be coming soon as Baldwin's phone is searched for evidence.
Source: Deadline