The actor Alec Baldwin will be charged with involuntary manslaughter for handling the gun that discharged on the set of Rust, killing its cinematographer, as will the movie’s armourer, who loaded the gun, prosecutors in New Mexico announced on Thursday.

The criminal charge was a remarkable development in the career of Baldwin, 64. He has been a household name for decades — a leading man in films who hosted the Oscars and played Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock. He has long denied culpability, noting that he had been told the weapon he was rehearsing with on the set did not contain live ammunition.

“Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me,” Baldwin said last year. The film’s armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for the guns onset, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter.

The film’s first assistant director, Dave Halls, who handed Baldwin the gun that went off, agreed to plead guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon. Baldwin, both a producer and a lead actor in Rust, was holding the gun that killed the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and wounded the director, Joel Souza.

New York Times News Service