A judge on Thursday granted police access to Alec Baldwin’s smartphone, nearly two months into the investigation into how a gun he was practicing on the set of the movie “Rest” fired a live round, in which the cameraman from the film was killed and its director.
Baldwin said in a police questioning on Oct. 21, the day of the deadly New Mexico shooting, that the gun went off as he prepared for a scene in which he removes the old-fashioned Colt revolver from its shoulder holster and holds the hammer, according to a sworn official statement submitted with the search warrant application. Detective Alexandria Hancock asked Mr Baldwin and his lawyer to hand over his phone, the affidavit said, but was told he would have to get a warrant.
The search warrant application said the detective “believes there may be evidence on the phone because individuals use cell phones during and/or after committing crime(s).” Detective Hancock, according to the affidavit, “was also made aware that several emails and text messages had been sent and received during the interviews regarding the film production ‘Rest’.”
The search aims to “gather all information and data from the mobile phone related to the production of ‘Rest’ and each member working on the production.”
The application stated that Mr. Baldwin was brought into an interrogation room at approximately 5:12 p.m. on the day of the shooting and that he agreed to speak with detectives after being informed of his Miranda rights. “Alec advised on the spot that he take the gun out of the holster slowly, then turn it very dramatically and cock the hammer, and that’s when the gun goes off,” it said. “He said it had to be a ‘cold gun’ so there shouldn’t have been a flash charge or anything like that.”
In a televised interview earlier this month, Mr. Baldwin that he hadn’t pulled the trigger on the gun he was practicing when it fired a live round. He said he didn’t fully cock the hammer of the gun, but pulled it back as far as possible and released it in an action that could have set it off.
“Someone put a sharp bullet in a gun that shouldn’t have even been on the property,” Mr Baldwin said in the interview with ABC News. “Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me.”
Mr. Baldwin has worked with investigators on the case; the affidavit said the actor had contacted Detective Hancock “many times” via phone and text. A representative for Mr. Baldwin did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the search warrant.
