The local sheriff and D.A. investigating the fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin's "Rust" movie set are speaking for the first time about the case ... and they made clear, criminal charges are still on the table for all involved, and the armorer and AD's work history WILL be considered.
Santa Fe County Sheriff, Adan Mendoza, and Santa Fe District Attorney, Mary Carmack-Altwies, were in front of cameras Wednesday to discuss the probe and potentially answer questions -- and while they insisted the investigation was still ongoing, they did offer clarity on what they're looking at in weighing potential criminality ... when they get there.
Mendoza said his deputies recovered about 500 rounds of ammo, which included a mix of blanks, dummies and live bullets. He didn't specify how much of each was found. He also said a whopping 600 pieces of evidence were seized in total, including the gun itself.
The Sheriff said they are still in the process of interviewing people who were working on set -- about 90 people total -- even though he said there was a small crew in the immediate vicinity of the shooting. He also said they want to re-interview a number of people ... including Baldwin, the director, the assistant director as well as the armorer in charge of weapons.
Speaking of those latter two -- who are at the center of this whole drama -- the Sherriff and D.A. noted without ambiguity ... they will take Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and David Halls' rumored incidents and/or conduct on previous sets into account as they consider whether to charge anyone over this. They're encouraging anyone with info to contact them, STAT.
The D.A. also made a point to say ... nobody has been ruled out at this point when it comes to potential charges, and that includes Baldwin himself -- who fired the fatal round.
As you know, Alec pulled the trigger, firing the fatal live round of ammunition that killed director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and injured director, Joel Souza.
Assistant director Dave Halls handed Alec the weapon used in the scene, and told him it was a "cold gun" ... meaning it was not loaded. Clearly, it had not been adequately inspected beforehand. As we first told you, some crew members were using the same gun for target practice with real bullets.
The movie's chief electrician, Serge Svetnoy, recently shared what he says is the last photo of Hutchins on set, and he's blaming her death on Halls and the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
Now it sounds like we'll have to wait to find out if the authorities have evidence of criminal negligence.