Rust trial: Alec Baldwin ‘wrongful killing’ tweet revisited after Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s guilty verdict

Alec Baldwin’s 2017 tweet about ‘wrongfully killing’ a person has resurfaced in the wake of Rust trial as armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed found guilty of involuntary manslaughter of Halyna Hutchins.

Reed was found guilty of the charge at a New Mexico trial yesterday (March 6) in relation to the October 2021 incident in which the Rust cinematographer was fatally shot when a live round was discharged from a revolver that was being used as a prop for the western film.

Baldwin, who was set to star in the film, and also oversaw the movie as creative producer, also faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, with his trial expected to begin in July this year. Ahead of Baldwin’s trial, a controversial tweet he shared from 2017 has resurfaced.

What did Alec Baldwin tweet about ‘wrongful killing’?

In September 2017, Baldwin retweeted an LA Times news article about a police officer who fatally shot a 27 year old man outside a 7-11. 

Commenting on the incident, Baldwin wrote ‘I wonder how it must feel to wrongfully kill someone…’ in an apparent point about perceived police brutality. It was later found that the officer Eric Esparza had been legally justified in his shooting of homeless Navy veteran Dillan Tabares.

However, Baldwin’s tweet resurfaces in October 2021 days after the actor himself was involved in a fatal shooting. The actor was on the set of his western film Rust - which is about a man sentenced to hang for an accidental killing - when a prop firearm containing a live round was discharged and the film’s cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally wounded.

Baldwin deleted his Twitter account following the incident on the Rust set, and all of his old tweets were deleted with it, but the post survives as a screenshot which has been widely shared online.

Baldwin faced fresh charges of involuntary manslaughter this year after earlier charges were dropped, and has pleaded not guilty.