quote:

Originally posted by mbinky:
It is unclear why New Mexico police want to seize Baldwin's phone now. [/i]

To see what he may have been saying about the incident since it happened, perhaps—?

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...ng-incident-n2600720

The sheriff's department wants to search Baldwin's phone for any evidence relating to the death of Halyna Hutchins.

"Affiant is requesting a warrant for the seizure and search of Alec Baldwins' [sic] cell phone to search for any evidence relating to the death investigation of Halyna Hutchins," the affidavit, obtained by Fox News Digital, said. "Affiant believes there may be evidence on the phone due to individuals using cellular phones during and/or after the commission of crime(s)."

"Such information, if it exists, may be material and relevant to this investigation. Affiant was also made aware there were several emails and text messages sent and received regarding the movie production 'Rust' in the course of interviews."


Baldwin told police he had corresponded with armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed via email discussing different types of guns to use during production. The actor had told police he requested a larger gun for filming, according to the search warrant.

Police found conversations regarding the "Rust" production on Hutchins' phone dating back to July 14, 2021, as well as photos taken in the Santa Fe area dating to September 7, 2021.

"Affiant believes gathering information prior to the film start date of Rust is essential for a full investigation," the affidavit said, adding that police requested Baldwin's phone but were told to get a search warrant.

^^^^ still wondering if they did a sobriety / drug test on Baldwin. Wouldn't that be normal in these type of shootings?

Might be something to do with pictures of him on the phone immediately after the incident. Perhaps they want to know who he called. Was it a close friend or family member because he was distraught and looking for comfort? Or a lawyer or crisis management outfit because he knew he just screwed up royally.

Speculation only but the cops may suspect he called someone to tell them they may need to hide or destroy evidence related to the shooting.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
^^^^ still wondering if they did a sobriety / drug test on Baldwin. Wouldn't that be normal in these type of shootings?

Not just Alec, Hanna Gutierrez Reed (the "armorer" lol) should have been tested as well.

Speaking of Hanna Gutierrez Reed, she was quoted as saying that making blanks (re-loading blanks I assume) was the scariest thing she had ever done.

What is she talking about? Why is that scary?

quote:

The sheriff's department wants to search Baldwin's phone for any evidence relating to the death of Halyna Hutchins.

There were earlier allegations that there might have been some target shooting of live rounds off the set by some set or cast members. Also, allegations of safety issues on set.

Could be the search warrant for the phone is related to issues or events prior to the shooting...or conversely, certain people involved coordinating stories or finger pointing after the shooting.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
Speaking of Hanna Gutierrez Reed, she was quoted as saying that making blanks (re-loading blanks I assume) was the scariest thing she had ever done.

What is she talking about? Why is that scary?

Because she has no idea what she is doing as an armorer. Reloading a case with a primer to make a blank is so simple my 12 yo could do it, it’s about as dangerous as going to the bathroom.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Speculation only but the cops may suspect he called someone to tell them they may need to hide or destroy evidence related to the shooting.

After a friend died suddenly [was killed] the police took phones from the two residents who were present. Seems the first thing in an investigation is, "Who was called first?". Except this investigation?

So if Alek called his lawyer or publicist or brother or wife first, instead of 911, that is a problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:
After a friend died suddenly [was killed] the police took phones from the two residents who were present. Seems the first thing in an investigation is, "Who was called first?". Except this investigation?

I have zero knowledge of the Baldwin investigation. I'm half a continent away working on boring white-collar cases that nobody other than me cares about.

That said, I don't need to seize/search the actual phone for any of the "who did he call? When? Where was he? Text or voice calls?" questions. That's all reachable by subpoena to the carrier(s), and is actually pretty quick and painless.

I need the physical device for onboard content. Nothing else. Stored photos/videos, retained text messages, emails if you're sloppy enough to keep them, etc. And unless you're silly enough to voluntarily hand it over, I'll need a warrant (or a good exception to the warrant requirement, and "somebody's dead" isn't an "exception.")

To get a warrant, I'll need to convince a neutral magistrate that a) a crime was committed and b) it's likely that there's evidence of a crime still stored on the device. So my guess is that until recently, the investigation hadn't yielded sufficient PC to meet that burden, which is the answer to "Why so long?"

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:

That said, I don't need to seize/search the actual phone for any of the "who did he call? When? Where was he? Text or voice calls?" questions. That's all reachable by subpoena to the carrier(s), and is actually pretty quick and painless.

Unless it's whatsApp, Google voice, perhaps apple messaging or other 3rd party comms apps, of which there are many.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:[QUOTE]

Unless it's whatsApp, Google voice, perhaps apple messaging or other 3rd party comms apps, of which there are many.

True enough. But even those can often be reached via the provider (though you're correct, you'll likely need a warrant for those.)

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
I don't need to seize/search the actual phone for any of the "who did he call? When? Where was he? Text or voice calls?" questions.

Come to think of it, the police did have a search warrant within hours, remained in the home until the warrant was in hand, the residents waited outside for hours, and no crime was determined to have been committed at that time. Their electronic devices were held during the investigation within the house but released immediately afterwards.

About a year later the determination by the ME (and thus the police) was homicide but the county DA declined to prosecute. The case was considered to be "exceptionally cleared".

quote:

Because she has no idea what she is doing as an armorer. Reloading a case with a primer to make a blank is so simple my 12 yo could do it, it’s about as dangerous as going to the bathroom.

You may want to check her pedigree.... I've got no idea why she finds it scary to load blanks and I have zero confidence in the accuracy of reporting these days, but I'm pretty sure she grew up spending lots of time around movie or TV sets and handling single action revolvers.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
Speaking of Hanna Gutierrez Reed, she was quoted as saying that making blanks (re-loading blanks I assume) was the scariest thing she had ever done.

What is she talking about? Why is that scary?

Because she has no idea what she is doing as an armorer. Reloading a case with a primer to make a blank is so simple my 12 yo could do it, it’s about as dangerous as going to the bathroom.

Based on quoted statements from articles posted previously in this thread, I dont think she was referring to "reloading" (hand loading) as in assembling ammunition components together, but actually loading the blanks or dummy rounds into the cylinder.

Re-quoted from articles posted earlier in the thread:

'I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly,' Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said in a podcast interview last month after leading the firearms department for The Old Way, starring Nicolas Cage - her first time as head armorer.

She also admitted in the podcast interview she found loading blanks into a gun 'the scariest' thing because she did not know how to do it and had sought help from her father to get over the fear.

I take the armorer's 'fear' as a symptom of her lack of experience and/or incompetence to hold a job with such great resposibility.

EVERYTHING she says indicates she was not qualified for that job.

quote:

Originally posted by mesabi:

quote:

Because she has no idea what she is doing as an armorer. Reloading a case with a primer to make a blank is so simple my 12 yo could do it, it’s about as dangerous as going to the bathroom.

You may want to check her pedigree.... I've got no idea why she finds it scary to load blanks and I have zero confidence in the accuracy of reporting these days, but I'm pretty sure she grew up spending lots of time around movie or TV sets and handling single action revolvers.

I agree with you that we should take news reporting with a grain of salt and question their accuracy. I haven't listened to the actual referenced podcast to hear the context when she mentioned loading blanks to be the scariest part.

This could be a simple mistake by reporters' ignorance, in not understanding the difference between loading ammo/ blanks/ dummy rounds into a revolver's cylinder, and reloading or hand loading ammunition components together.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that her father took her shooting at some point, but we don't know the level of detailed instructions she received. Maybe he didn't even discuss safety rules with her. Maybe he handed her a loaded gun and just had her point it and pull the trigger... or maybe he gave her excellent expert instructions and she simply was too young or not interested to actually learn.

We do know that her resume includes 4 months of armorer's experience, that she only worked on one previous movie set as an armorer, that there were anecdotes of gun safety violations on that set, that the movie Rust was her first serving as head armorer, that she doubted her own experience and abilities as an armorer and had to turn to her Dad to teach her how to do her job...and we know that she was assigned a second set duty not related to armorer's duties, which likely taxed her time spent as head armorer and spread her even thinner.

this post shows sections of the affidavit for the search warrant for Baldwin's cell phone