On Set Shooting, 'Baldwin Distracted In Weapon Training'

(ANSA) - ROME, FEBRUARY 01 - Actor Alec Baldwin was on the phone with his family during firearms training for the filming of the film 'Rust', in which he shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

This is the accusation by the Santa Fe prosecutors, who today formally charged him with manslaughter together with armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

Baldwin was "distracted" by talking to family members on his cell phone during training on how to use the stage gun, Robert Shilling, a special investigator with the district attorney's office, wrote in a statement about the probable cause of the incident.

If the plaintiff had gone through the mandatory safety checks with gunsmith Hannah and hadn't pointed the gun at Hutchins,

the "tragedy would not have occurred," Shilling argued.

"This reckless departure from known standards, practice and protocol directly caused the fatal shooting," she said.

   "Baldwin knew that the first rule of gun safety is never to point a gun at someone you don't intend to shoot," he added (ANSA).