Alec Baldwin did not know weapon contained live ammunition, court documents show

An assistant director unknowingly handed Alec Baldwin a loaded weapon and told him it was safe to use in the moments before the actor fatally shot a cinematographer, according to court documents.

The search warrant filed in a Sante Fe court, showed the assistant director told him it was a "cold gun" before handing him the firearm.

Instead, the gun was loaded with live rounds and when Baldwin pulled the trigger on Thursday on the set of a Western he killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her, was wounded, the records said.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office obtained the warrant so investigators could document the scene at the ranch outside Santa Fe where the shooting took place.

They sought Baldwin’s blood-stained costume for the film Rust as evidence, as well as the weapon that was fired, other prop guns and ammunition, and any footage that might exist.

The gun was one of three that the film’s armourer, Hannah Gutierrez, had set on a cart outside the wooden structure where a scene was being acted, according to the records.

Assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin while unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.

It was unclear how many rounds were fired.

In a statement posted on Baldwin's arts foundation’s social media account, he described the event as a “tragedy” and said he is in communication with Hutchins’s husband.

He said: “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours.

“I’m fully co-operating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family.

“My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”