What Happened in the ‘Rust’ Shooting? Revisiting the Case Against Alec Baldwin

• A prop gun held by Alec Baldwin discharged a live bullet on Oct. 21, 2021, while on the set of Rust, accidentally killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
• The actor and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, were charged with involuntary manslaughter, with the latter convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison while Baldwin’s charges were dismissed.
• Rust resumed filming in April 2023 with Hutchins’ widower serving as producer, and is now looking for a distributor.

It’s been nearly four years since the tragic Rust shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

On Oct. 21, 2021, a prop gun held by lead actor and producer Alec Baldwin fired a live bullet on the Rust film set, killing the movie’s cinematographer and injuring director Joel Souza.

Although Baldwin claimed he did not pull the trigger and could not have known the gun contained live ammunition, he and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who loaded the gun with a live round that day, were charged with involuntary manslaughter. But while Gutierrez-Reed was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison in April 2024, Baldwin’s case was dismissed that July.

Now, more details from the days leading up to and after the incident are emerging in a Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna, which premiered on Hulu on March 11.

From the details of Alec Baldwin’s trial to how Halyna Hutchins’ family has honored her, here’s everything to know about the Rust shooting case.

What is the movie Rust about?

Rust tells the story of a teenage boy who is left to care for himself and his younger brother after their parents’ deaths. Set in 1880s Kansas, the boy runs away with his long-estranged grandfather after he’s sentenced to hanging for the accidental killing of a rancher.

Written and directed by Souza, the American Western film stars Baldwin — who is also a producer and co-writer — as grandfather Harland Rust. The original cast included Travis Fimmel, Brady Noon, Frances Fisher, Jensen Ackles and Devon Werkheiser.

However, the film suspended production for some time following the shooting. When it resumed in April 2023, not all cast members returned. Noon’s role was replaced by actor Patrick Scott McDermott, per Variety, while Josh Hopkins stepped into Ackles’ spot, according to The Hollywood Reporter, as both original actors had other conflicting filming commitments.

Jake Busey was additionally added to the cast, per Deadline.

How was Alec Baldwin involved in the on-set Rust shooting?

Authorities responded to an incident at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set of Rust in Santa Fe, N.M., around 1:50 p.m. local time, following 911 calls indicating “an individual had been shot on set,” the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department wrote in a press release obtained by PEOPLE.

Baldwin, who insists he didn’t pull the trigger, was holding the gun that had accidentally shot both Hutchins and Souza.

Hutchins was airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where she died from her injuries, according to the sheriff’s department. Souza was hospitalized but released a few days later.

Why were there live bullets on Rust‘s set?

A crew member told PEOPLE they saw “a lot of red flags” while watching armorer Gutierrez-Reed on set, including that she didn’t keep the weapons “safe” and “locked up” while filming. (On film sets, the armorer is generally tasked with overseeing weapons.)

Prior to working on Rust, Gutierrez-Reed (the daughter of expert Hollywood armorer Thell Reed) had just finished serving as head armorer on her first movie The Old Way, starring Nicolas Cage — a gig she told the Voices of the West podcast caused her to second-guess her ability.

“I was really nervous about it at first, and I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but doing it — it went really smoothly,” she said of The Old Way. “I think loading blanks was like the scariest thing to me because I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know anything about it.’ ”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Rust production managers “struggled to recruit experienced crew members” after nearly a dozen prop masters or armorers turned the jobs down.

Furthermore, the Los Angeles Times reported that six camera crew workers walked off the set of Rust to protest working conditions — which included long hours, commutes and periods of waiting for paychecks — in addition to a lack of following strict safety protocols, like gun inspections.

What was Alec Baldwin charged with?

More than one year after the fatal on-set shooting, Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and special prosecutor Andrea Reeb announced in January 2023 that Baldwin and armorer Gutierrez-Reed would both be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.

“After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the Rust film crew,” Carmack-Altwies said in a statement. “On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice.”

Reeb added, “If any one of these three people — Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed or David Halls — had done their job, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today. It’s that simple. The evidence clearly shows a pattern of criminal disregard for safety on the Rust film set. In New Mexico, there is no room for film sets that don’t take our state’s commitment to gun safety and public safety seriously.”

That April, the charges against Baldwin were dropped, albeit temporarily. In January 2024, he was indicted again on involuntary manslaughter charges following a new investigation by a New Mexico grand jury into the incident, which allegedly found evidence that Baldwin did pull the trigger when it was discharged.

What was the verdict for Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s charges?

Gutierrez-Reed’s charges were not dropped alongside Baldwin’s in April 2023. In March 2024, she was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. She was found liable, in part, for the fatal shooting of Hutchins and was acquitted of a separate charge of tampering with evidence.

The next month, the Rust armorer was sentenced to 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. In addition to the maximum sentence in New Mexico she faced, Gutierrez-Reed was also fined $5,000.

Meanwhile, Baldwin and his legal team worked to get the involuntary manslaughter charges dismissed before the July 2024 trial, though their attempt was initially denied. But just a few days into the trial, a judge dismissed the case with prejudice.

“The late discovery of this evidence during trial has impeded the effective use of evidence in such a way that it has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer explained of her decision.

Why is Alec Baldwin suing the prosecutors?

In January 2025, Baldwin filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit against the case’s prosecutors in hopes of holding the defendants “accountable for their misconduct.”

Through his attorneys, Baldwin argued that the defendants were “blinded by their desire to convict” him “for all the wrong reasons, and at any cost.”

He also alleged that “certain defendants” deliberately hid evidence and provided false testimony in court, aiming to frame Baldwin as the “scapegoat” for the tragedy.

What has Alec Baldwin said about the aftermath of the trial?

Although years have passed since the October 2021 incident, Baldwin is still grappling with the aftermath today.

In February 2025, the actor opened up to PEOPLE about coming to terms with the tragedy all these years later.

“I had to stuff [feelings] down because I had seven kids. I couldn’t really go in the other room and cry or whatever. And now the emotion is really kind of washing up on me,” he said. “I don’t think other people would’ve survived this.”

His wife Hilaria Baldwin also opened up about the fallout in the couple’s reality TLC series The Baldwins, explaining that Baldwin struggles with “survivor’s guilt” and will “never be the same.”

“You’re involved in this thing that nobody could even possibly imagine. And so he goes back to that day, he wishes it were him,” Hilaria said. “He would change places [with Hutchins] in a second.”

She added, “This has affected his health and his mental health tremendously the past few years. All of a sudden, he has started having heart problems. He’s been hospitalized multiple times.”

How has Halyna Hutchins’ family honored her after her death?

Many of Hutchins’ family members, including her husband Matthew Hutchins, wished for the movie to resume filming as a way to continue her legacy.

In the Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna, Hutchins’ mother, Olga, was interviewed from Ukraine and opened up about wanting her daughter’s work to be honored.

“I wanted this to happen,” she said. “Maybe some people didn’t want it. But I wanted this to happen because it was a big work of Halyna. She wanted this movie to be finished.”

Olga added that she also wanted Hutchins’ son Andros to see the finished project and “be proud of his mother.”

When will Rust be released?

In October 2022, Baldwin and other Rust producers settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Hutchins’ widower Matthew. Along with the settlement, the team agreed to complete the movie with Matthew now on board as an executive producer — and away from New Mexico.

Rust resumed filming in April 2023 and wrapped production that May. In November 2024, the film made its debut at the Camerimage Festival in Poland, which honors the work of cinematographers and directors of photography.

Director of photography Bianca Cline, who took over for Hutchins after her tragic death, told PEOPLE that the screening would honor the late cinematographer’s “beautiful” work.

“We wanted to do this to honor her and to make sure that people could see what she was working on,” Cline said. “I think that it’s her best film. I think that it’s her most beautiful film, and I’ve seen all of them.”

As for a theater release, Rust has yet to secure a domestic partner as of January 2025, per Deadline.