What Did The Armorer On The Rust Set Just Admit After The Accidental Shooting Of Haylna Hutchins?
In late October, Hollywood stood still for a moment following a fatal accident involving actor Alec Baldwin. Baldwin accidentally fired a round from what he thought was a prop gun on the New Mexico set of the film "Rust." The single bullet killed the film's cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and also hit the film's director, Joel Souza. A local hospital later released Souza from their care, but the tragedy still took a life and left many wondering how something that seemed so avoidable could have happened on set.
Shortly after the incident, a distraught Baldwin issued a statement via his Twitter account to express his sadness while reiterating his stance. "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," the actor wrote. "I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred."
Since the incident, authorities have been trying to piece together the events from that day and try to get to the bottom of how it could have happened — especially since, per People, Baldwin was told on-set that the firearm was "cold," meaning not loaded with a live round. Many people have been pointing fingers at different members of the "Rust" crew, including the set's armorer, whose job (via People) is to be in charge of the gun props.
The on-set armorer 'has no idea where the live rounds came from'
More details have emerged about the shooting on the set of "Rust." Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, its on-set armorer, has issued a statement via her lawyers Jason Bowles and Robert Gorence to People. The statement comes on the heels of an October 27 press conference in which police stated they discovered "500 rounds of ammunition" on set.
As Gutierrez-Reed stated, there are "untruths that have been told to the media," while she is "devastated and completely beside herself over the events that have transpired." She continued, in a statement from her lawyers, "Safety is Hannah's No. 1 priority on set. Ultimately this set would never have been compromised if live ammo were not introduced. Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from."
The statement also revealed that the film hired Gutierrez-Reed for two different jobs, which made it "difficult to focus on her job," per the statement. "She fought for training, days to maintain weapons and proper time to prepare for gunfire but ultimately was overruled by production and her department. The whole production set became unsafe due to various factors, including lack of safety meetings," the statement read, reiterating that, "this was not the fault of Hannah." In closing, the lawyers expressed their deepest sympathies to Halyna Hutchins' family on behalf of Gutierrez-Reed (24 as of this writing). Further details as to if and when the movie will continue filming have yet to be released.