LOS ANGELES - FBI testing of the gun used in the fatal shooting on the movie set of “Rust” found that the weapon handled by actor Alec Baldwin could not be fired without pulling the trigger while the gun was cocked, according to a newly released forensics report. Baldwin had the gun while rehearsing a scene of the Western film at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico in October when a shot fired, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. In December, Baldwin told ABC News he never pulled the trigger of the gun that shot Hutchins. “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” Baldwin said. Baldwin, in that interview, also described cocking the gun as he talked through the scene with Hutchins. “So then I said to her, ‘Now in this scene, I’m going to the gun.’ And I said, ‘Do you want to see that?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ So I take the gun and I start to cock the gun. I’m not going to pull the trigger.” Cocking a revolver pistol like the one used on the movie set involves pulling the hammer of the gun back to prepare the weapon to fire. When the hammer of the gun is released forward with enough force as happens when the trigger is pressed, it strikes the primer of a round of ammunition causing the gun to fire.
The FBI forensic report was handed over to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office as part of the ongoing investigation into the fatal on-set shooting.
The report found that the gun, a .45 Colt (.45 Long Colt) caliber F.lli Pietta single-action revolver, “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger” with the hammer cocked at the ¼ and ½ positions. It also found that when the weapon was fully-cocked it “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger while the working internal components were intact and functional.” FBI examiners observed an internal malfunction of the gun during testing at the fully-cocked position, with the report noting “portions of the trigger sear and cylinder stop fractured while the hammer was struck.”