The revolver with which Hollywood star Alec Baldwin fatally injured cinematographer Halyna Hutchins while filming the western "Rust" was probably not a prop after all.
The chief prosecutor in New Mexico, Mary Carmack-Altwies, has now corrected the Santa Fe district sheriff's office, which had repeatedly spoken of a "prop weapon" after the accident last Thursday.
"It was a real weapon, an ancient weapon appropriate to the time," the lawyer told the New York Times on Tuesday.
As has since become known, the investigations on the film ranch Bonanza Creek in the desert near Santa Fe not only found three revolvers - according to Carmack-Altwies they also found "enormous amounts" of ammunition.
The investigators had discovered the bullets in packages, loose and also in a bum bag on the set of the western in the past few days.
The circumstances of Hutchins' death sparked shock and anger in Hollywood.
According to the investigations so far, Baldwin had aimed at the camera during a rehearsal scene in a church of the film ranch while he was practicing the "cross draw" technique.
The assistant director Dave Halls is said to have handed the gun to the sixty-three year old with the words "Cold Gun", the reference to an unloaded gun.
When a shot went off, Hutchins collapsed.
Arms master acted irresponsibly before
The 42-year-old cinematographer later died in Albuquerque hospital.
"Rust" director Joel Souza, who was standing next to Hutchins in front of the camera, was also hit, but only slightly injured.
In the days after the accident, the prop master Maggie Goll, the film technician Serge Svetnoy and other filmmakers accused the production company Rust Movie Productions LLC of sloppiness and negligence.
In order not to strain the already low budget of the Western, the producers, including Baldwin, had cut back on safety precautions.
Gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez, who was responsible for guns, ammunition and the training of the actors during the filming, did not have enough experience.
The twenty-four-year-old was already noticed on the set of "The Old Way" for violating the regulations.
As the industry portal The Wrap reported on Tuesday, Oscar winner Nicolas Cage, the main actor of the western, repeatedly stopped filming in the summer because Gutierrez repeatedly frightened him with unannounced shots.
Rust Movie Productions LLC announced its own investigation on Tuesday.
A group of lawyers from Jenner & Block will interview actors and film crew over the coming weeks about what happened on October 21 at the film ranch.
Juan Rios, the spokesman for the Santa Fe sheriff, hinted at further search warrants.
"We can't rule out anything yet," said prosecutor Carmack-Altwies.
"At the moment anything is possible, including criminal charges."