Just a few months ago, the film industry was startled when news broke that a fatal shooting had happened on the movie set of “Rust.” During the rehearsal of a scene, which took place inside a dated church, actor Alec Baldwin was supposedly practicing when director Joel Souza heard what sounded like a loud pop. In the confusion and chaos, 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot by the prop gun being held by Baldwin. Following the incident, and with an investigation ongoing, Baldwin has been adamant that he will cooperate with the investigation. At least until authorities asked him to turn in his cell phone, which took the actor almost a month to do.
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Hoping to give his side of the story, in December, Baldwin sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos to try and clear his name. He was persistent, saying, “I don’t have anything to hide.” He even added, “I want to make sure that I don’t come across like I’m the victim, because we have two victims here. All of what happened that day leading up to this event was precipitated on one idea, and that idea is that Halyna and I had something profound in common. That is we both assumed the gun was empty, other than those dummy rounds.”
But when the Santé Fe County Sheriff’s Office filed a search warrant for the 63-year-old actor’s phone, Baldwin not only took a month to comply, but he also tried to spin a narrative that he is the victim. His civil attorney, Aaron Dyer, wrote in a statement [2], “Alec voluntarily provided his phone to the authorities this morning so they can finish their investigation. But this matter isn’t about his phone, and there are no answers on his phone. Alec did nothing wrong. It is clear that he was told it was a cold gun, and was following instructions when this tragic accident occurred. The real question that needs to be answered is how live rounds got on the set in the first place.”
And adding to the statement, Baldwin released the video above trying to convince America that he is being vilified when he is the victim. While Baldwin claims that no outlet is reporting on him turning over the cell phone, the end of the video proved otherwise.