US actor Alec Baldwin and gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reid were charged on Tuesday with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of cameraman Galina Hutchins on the set of the 2021 film Rust, a spokesman for the New Mexico district attorney said, Reuters reported.

District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwis announced Jan. 19 that she would file charges by the end of the month after months of speculation that she had evidence that Baldwin was criminally negligent when the gun he was training fired and discharged a live bullet , who killed Hutchins.

Heather Brewer, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, said the district attorney has filed charges against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reid.

The actor, known for his role on 30 Rock, denied responsibility, saying he cocked the revolver but never pulled the trigger and that it was the job of Gutierrez-Reid and other gun specialists to make sure it was unloaded .

Gutierrez-Reid claimed he made sure the bullets he loaded into the revolver were empty before handing the gun to assistant director Dave Halls, who handed it to Baldwin, telling him it was a “cold gun,” meaning it was unloaded, according to according to the police.

Halls admitted that he did not check the gun before filming the scene, convinced that it contained blanks. He signed an agreement with the prosecutor’s office to plead guilty to careless handling of weapons.

“On the day of the shooting alone, the evidence shows that at least a dozen negligent acts or omissions occurred in the short period of time before noon and during the shooting, and this does not include Baldwin’s careless handling of the weapon,” according to the accompanying probable cause statement. allegations against Baldwin as an actor and producer.