Many other actors have said they “always check their guns or have someone check it front of them,” New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told CNN shortly after announcing her intention of charging actor Alec Baldwin and film armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed with involuntary manslaughter.
She noted that some of those actors were even “A-list” celebrities.
“Every person that handles a gun has a duty to make sure that if they’re going to handle that gun, point it at someone and pull the trigger that it is not going to fire a projectile and kill someone,” she said.
“An actor does not get a free pass just because they are an actor. That is what is so important. We are saying here in New Mexico, that everyone is equal under the law,” she added.
Carmack-Altwies said there were live rounds mixed in with dummy rounds and crews were not checking ammunition regularly.
Somehow, a live round got loaded into the gun that was handed to Baldwin.
“He didn’t check it. He didn’t do any of things he was supposed to do to make sure that he was safe or that anyone around him was safe,” Carmack-Altwies said
Baldwin failing to check the gun before firing it is a key piece of information that prosecutors are using to argue that he was negligent about the safety standard, Carmack-Altwies said. Negligence is an important part of the involuntary manslaughter charge, according to CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams.
Overall, there was a “lack of safety and safety standards on set,” the district attorney said.