A search warrant has been issued for Alec Baldwin’s phone in connection with ‘Rust’ shooting

By Amir Vera, Josh Campbell and Kay Jones, CNN

A search warrant has been issued for actor Alec Baldwin’s cell phone in connection with the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film “Rust,” according to court documents released Thursday from Santa Fe County, New Mexico.

A judge on Thursday signed the warrant which states that Baldwin, along with his attorney, were asked to turn over the phone, and the detective was told to “acquire a warrant.”

Officials are looking to obtain messages, call logs, digital photos and videos, as well as any private messages sent on social media platforms in relation to the production of “Rust,” the warrant said. It also looks to obtain any deleted videos, photos and messages on the phone that have to do with the movie.

Hutchins was fatally shot October 21 during a rehearsal for a scene in a church at Bonanza Creek Ranch. Director Joel Souza was also injured in the shooting.

The scene was going to show Baldwin cocking the gun, and he and Hutchins were going over how she wanted to position his hand right before the gun went off, the actor told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos this month.

“And I cock the gun, I go, ‘Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?’ And she says … and then I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun goes off. I let go of the hammer of the gun, the gun goes off,” Baldwin recalled.

Baldwin was aiming the gun just off to the side of the camera, as Hutchins was instructing him to, in her direction, he said.

“I’m holding the gun where she told me to hold it, which ended up being aimed right below her armpit, was what I was told,” Baldwin said.

When asked why he pointed the gun at Hutchins and pulled the trigger when that wasn’t in the script, Baldwin said, “I would never point a gun at anyone and then pull the trigger. Never.”

Baldwin’s civil attorney responded Thursday night.

“We are confident that the evidence will show that Mr. Baldwin is not responsible civilly or criminally for what occurred on October 21, and he continues to cooperate with authorities,” Aaron Dyer said in a statement, as reported by ABC News. “We proactively requested that the authorities obtain a warrant so that we could take steps to protect Mr. Baldwin’s family and personal information that is clearly unrelated to the investigation.

“A phone contains a person’s entire life, and personal information needs to be protected. While they evaluate the phone information, we hope that the authorities continue to focus on how the live rounds got on the set in the first place,” Dyer added.

CNN continues to reach out to Dyer.

Armorer says she loaded gun with 6 dummy rounds

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer on the set, told investigators she took the guns out the morning of October 21, the warrant said.

Her coworker helped her with morning tasks, and after they retrieved the guns, they took them to set, Gutierrez Reed said. While on set, Gutierrez Reed “dummied the guns up with dummy rounds,” she told deputies.

Gutierrez Reed and her coworker got to the set around 7:30 a.m. but didn’t dummy the gun up until a short time before lunch, she told deputies.

Gutierrez Reed loaded the gun with five dummy rounds before lunch, she said. There was one round that wouldn’t go in, so after lunch she took the cleaner, cleaned it out and put another round in, which means there were six dummy rounds in the gun, she said.

“We had the gun the whole time before that, and nothing happened, and I wasn’t in there, and they weren’t even supposed to be pulling the hammer back,” Gutierrez Reed said, according to the warrant.

After the shooting, Gutierrez Reed checked the gun cartridge and the first round she pulled out didn’t have “that,” referring to the projectile end of a bullet, she told investigators. She checked the other rounds and they were all dummies, the warrant said.

The box of dummies may have had some “wonky” rounds, she said.

Two crew members have told CNN Gutierrez Reed mishandled weapons on a previous film project.

Stu Brumbaugh, the key grip on “The Old Way,” said Gutierrez Reed handled guns on the set of that project in a reckless manner and that he urged the film’s assistant director to fire her. Brumbaugh cited an incident in which Gutierrez Reed fired a gun near the film’s star Nicolas Cage without warning.

Gutierrez Reed is the daughter of longtime Hollywood armorer, Thell Reed.

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CNN’s Andy Rose, Chloe Melas, Lucy Kafanov, Julia Jones, Alexandra Meeks and Fernando Alfonso contributed to this report.