To the Surprise of No One Except Alec Baldwin, the FBI Concludes He Pulled the Trigger on the Gun That Killed His Camera Operator

Mark Sagliocco. Getty Images.

It's been almost 10 months since a supposedly prop gun went off in Alec Baldwin's hands on the set of his movie Rust and killed cinemaphotographer Halyna Hutchins. And pretty much ever since Baldwin has proven that, like all of us, he has the right to remain silent, but he lacks the capacity.

Most people involved in a fatal shooting - accidental or otherwise - would take that as a good time to lay low. Drop out of the public eye. Let our lawyers and law enforcement hash things out. And basically exercise the bejeebers out of those 5th Amendment and Miranda Rights the cops are always reading on the procedural crime dramas right after "You're under arrest." But not the third craziest Baldwin brother. 

Last year he went off social media for a period of time that felt shorter than Hunt for Red October. And rarely, if ever, has he done himself any favors by talking. Last week he stepped on a rake by calling Anne Heche (RIP) "amazing" and "brave," right after she slammed her Mini Cooper into someone's house  while driving through a neighborhood at 90 mph with a vodka bottle in her cup holder. But even that poorly timed, badly worded tribute to someone he once worked with is just the latest example. And by no means the worst. 

That dishonor would go to the interview he did with George Stephanopolous weeks after the shooting. A sit-down that had to have been over the objections of every lawyer he has on retainer. Otherwise, they should all be disbarred for malpractice.

Source - He maintains that he didn't pull the trigger and that the gun just 'went off' while in his hands. …

'I let go of the hammer, bang. The gun goes off. Everyone is horrified. They're shocked. It's loud,' he said … and that he's been told by people 'in the know' that it is 'highly unlikely' he'll face criminal charges. 

'Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can't say who it is, but it's not me.

'Honest to God, if I thought I was responsible I might have killed myself. And I don't say that lightly.'  

Yeah, about that claim. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has completely their federal investigation. And they beg to differ with his account.

Source - The feds have all but concluded actor Alec Baldwin must have fired the weapon on the set of the movie “Rust” that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, according to a bombshell report.

According to an FBI forensic report obtained by ABC News, the gun delivering the fatal bullet in the Oct. 21 shooting on the New Mexico set “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger.”

I'm just a handsome intellectual who sometimes goes to a gun range with his sons, and by no means an expert on firearms. But it didn't take the Warren Commission to figure out that what fired the bullet that killed Hutchins was the trigger on the gun being pulled. Because they don't pull themselves. And the most likely pulling finger would be found on the hand that is attached to the man holding the weapon. It's Forensics 101. Ballistics for Beginners. "My First Crime Scene Investigation" by Fisher Price. 

What a weird flex that was to claim he didn't pull the trigger. Especially given that he had well over a month to think about it. I mean, if he'd simply said he was told to pull the trigger so he did, and had no idea it contained a live round because that's someone else's department, you could 100% believe and sympathize with him. There but for the grace of God goes any actor, and all that. But instead he chose to claim he was so innocent that he never squeezed his trigger finger, which makes him sound guilty. Like those old people who'll find themselves behind the wheel in the Cold & Flu aisle at Walgreen's and tell the cops, "I had my foot on the brake, but the car just lurched forward by itself!" 

Which doesn't necessarily make Alec Baldwin guilty of murder, or manslaughter, or even negligence. But it is suspect when you lie about a simple fact of the case. Because if you'll deny a common sense detail like that, it's only natural for us to wonder what else you're trying to cover up.

Or, it could just be that he's a typical pampered Hollywood megalomaniac who's never had to hold himself accountable since he first hit it big in the 1980s. And it's a damned shame. Because there might not be a figure in the entertainment industry with a greater disparity between the quality of his work and the trainwreck that is his personal life. Extremely talented in everything he does (Jack Donaghy is a Top 10 TV character of the last 20 years), but a completely unhinged nutjob off screen. Lucky for him you can't be charged criminally for lying to George Stephanopolous.