Alec Baldwin Turns Over Cellphone Amid Probe Into Deadly ‘Rust’ Shooting

Actor Alec Baldwin attends the 2019 PEN America Literary Gala at the American Museum of Natural History in New York on May 21, 2019. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Alec Baldwin has handed over his cellphone to investigators as part of a probe into the fatal shooting on the movie set “Rust” in New Mexico.

The Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office confirmed to multiple news outlets on Friday that Baldwin gave the phone to law enforcement officials in Suffolk County, New York, who will gather information from the phone and provide that to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in New Mexico.

The Santa Fe detective leading the probe obtained the search warrant for the actor’s Apple iPhone in mid-December 2021 to look at text messages, emails, and other relevant information.

The detective said she requested the warrant as suspects, victims, and witnesses “often make and/or receive telephone calls and/or messages before, during, and/or after the commission of crime(s).”

It comes after a Thursday news release from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office saying Baldwin had not complied with a search warrant requesting he hand over the phone and that a New Mexico prosecutor was now working with the actor’s lawyer to get it.

Baldwin’s lawyer, Aaron Dyer, later said he had reached a deal with New Mexico authorities to turn in the phone after steps were taken to protect the actor’s privacy over matters unrelated to the “Rust” investigation.

“Mr. Baldwin’s phone is being turned over this week for review,“ Dyer said in a statement. ”Mr. Baldwin has continued to cooperate with the authorities, and any suggestion to the contrary is simply untrue.”

Last week, Baldwin posted a video on Instagram in which he said he was concerned about protecting his privacy, but that he would comply with the request to hand over his phone.

Baldwin is accused of having fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21, 2021, while rehearsing in the movie “Rust" at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe in northern New Mexico.

The film set of "Rust," where Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer and wounded a director when he discharged a prop gun, is seen from a distance, in Santa Fe, N.M., on Oct. 23, 2021. Kevin Mohatt/Reuters

The 63-year-old actor previously said he was given an antique pistol for the rehearsal, and it went off during the rehearsal. The gun fired a live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 43, and injured “Rust” director Joel Souza, 48.

In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that aired Dec. 2, Baldwin, the film’s producer, said he did not pull the trigger on the gun when it went off.

The New Mexico prosecutor overseeing the case has said some people who handled guns on the set may face criminal charges in connection with Hutchins’s death.

Reuters contributed to this report.