On Good Morning America Wednesday, George Stephanopoulos revealed that he sat down with Alec Baldwin for a “raw, intense” interview airing on ABC Thursday evening, about the deadly shooting on the set of Baldwin’s Western film, Rust.
It will be Baldwin’s first formal interview since he fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on October 21, when the actor and producer fired a pistol he claims he was told was “cold,” meaning safe.
“I’ve done thousands of interviews in the last 20 years at ABC, this was the most intense I’ve ever experienced…So raw. He’s devastated,” Stephanopoulos says of Baldwin, adding, “but he was also candid, very forthcoming…[and] went through in detail what happened on the set that day.”
The interview, recorded Tuesday, will air at 8 p.m. on ABC Thursday and stream later that day on Hulu.
News of the interview comes as investigators revealed for the first time that they may be closer to understanding how live ammunition ended up on Rust‘s New Mexico set. One of those bullets ended up in the chamber of Baldwin’s gun, instead of an inert, “dummy” bullet used for close-ups.
Authorities have said “a mix” of hundreds of blank rounds, dummy rounds and live ammunition rounds had been recovered from the set.
As previously reported, the set employed neophyte Hannah Gutierrez Reed, 24, as the movie’s armorer, who is the daughter of Thell Reed, an experienced armorer and veteran of hundreds of productions.
ABC News has learned that, according to a search warrant dated November 30, Mr. Reed told investigators that another that man, Seth Kenney, requested in August/September that Mr. Reed bring live ammunition to a set in order to train the actors on a firearms range. Reed says he subsequently provided 200-300 rounds in an ammo can, and that the “ammunition was not factory made rounds.” Reed further told investigators, “this ammunition may match the ammunition found on the set of Rust,” as each reloaded shell casing bore a distinct company design that could match the spent one recovered from Baldwin’s chamber.
The warrant states Reed further told investigators that when the production ended, Kenney took the ammo can and remaining ammunition back to New Mexico. Reed says when he attempted to get Kenney to return the can and unused ammunition rounds, Kenney told Reed to “write it off.”
According to the warrant, Kenney told detectives on October 27 that he provided the Rust production with dummy rounds and blanks from a manufacturer identified as Starline Brass. Two days later, Oct 29, Kenney called detectives again and, “advised he may know where the live rounds came from.”
The search warrant details, “[Kenney] described how a couple years back he received ‘reloaded ammunition’ from a friend” with the Starline Brass logo on it. But he didn’t support Thell Reed’s other allegations.
Additionally, attorneys for Hanna Gutierrez Reed, who weeks ago declared, without providing proof, that Baldwin’s pistol was intentionally sabotaged, labeled Kenney an “armorer-mentor” for the 24-year-old.
Through his attorney, Kenney took issue with the allegation from Reed’s camp. “Mr. Kenney is fully-cooperating with the authorities, as he has been since the tragic incident took place,” Kenney’s attorney, Adam Engelskirchen, said in a statement provided to ABC News. “Neither Mr. Kenney nor PDQ Arm & Prop, LLC provided live ammunition to the Rust production.”
Further, Engelskirchen said the search warrant affidavit “includes material misstatements of fact, particularly with regard to statements ascribed to Mr. Kenney.”
“Reports in other media outlets that Mr. Kenney was part of the crew of Rust or was employed by the production to provide any sort of supervisory services are patently false,” he added.
Officially, authorities have not ruled out criminal charges in the case as the investigation continues.
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