An attorney for Alec Baldwin said Friday that the actor turned his phone over to police in Suffolk County, New York, earlier in the day as part of the investigation into last year’s deadly shooting on the set of the movie “Rust,” The New York Times reported.
Update 4:40 p.m. EST Jan. 14: In a statement obtained by USA Today, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Juan Rios confirmed that Baldwin’s cellphone had been turned over to officials in New York.
“They will gather information off the phone and provide the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office with the evidence gathered,” Rios said, according to USA Today. He added that officials in New Mexico were in the process of getting “physically possession of the data to be retrieved off the Baldwin phone.”
>> Related: New Mexico officials issue search warrant for Alec Baldwin’s phone in ‘Rust’ inquiry
The Times reported Friday that Baldwin, who has a home in Suffolk County, gave officials his phone and its password to allow them to pass relevant data from it to investigators in New Mexico, citing a search agreement provided by his lawyer, Aaron Dyer.
Baldwin turned his phone over nearly a month after officials issued a search warrant for it in connection with the Oct. 21 shooting that claimed the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and left director Joel Souza injured on the set of “Rust.”
Original report: Law enforcement authorities in New Mexico say they are waiting for Alec Baldwin to turn over his cellphone several weeks after a warrant was issued for it in the investigation of a shooting death on a movie set.
“When Mr. Baldwin had not immediately provided his phone pursuant to the initial search warrant, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office also reached out for assistance from the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office,” a news release sent from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
“The District Attorney’s Office began working with Mr. Baldwin’s attorney to retrieve the phone.”
According to the statement, jurisdictional concerns were causing some delay and police were then told the district attorney’s office “would be facilitating the retrieval of the phone on a consent basis.”
“To date, the cell phone has not been turned in to authorities,” the release read.
The warrant was issued in the investigation of the shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie “Rust.”
Baldwin was holding a gun while Hutchins was setting up a scene for the movie when he pulled the trigger. A bullet hit and killed Hutchins and injured the movie’s director, Joel Souza.
Hutchins was the movie’s cinematographer. Baldwin was starring in and producing the film that was being shot at the Bonanza Creek Ranch film set near Santa Fe on Oct. 21.
Baldwin’s lawyer Aaron Dyer said Thursday in a statement to USA Today that he has reached an agreement with both the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office and the district attorney to turn over the phone.
“Mr. Baldwin’s phone is being turned over this week for review. Ever since this tragic incident, Mr. Baldwin has continued to cooperate with the authorities, and any suggestion to the contrary is simply untrue,” he wrote. “We requested that the authorities obtain a warrant so that we could protect his privacy on other matters unrelated to Rust and have been working through that process.”
Baldwin has said he was not responsible for the shootings, despite the fact he was holding the gun when it was fired.
“Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me. Honest to God, if I felt that I was responsible, I might have killed myself if I thought I was responsible. And I don’t say that lightly,” he said in an interview in December.
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