The employee who was in charge of the weapons in the movie Rust did not know that there were “real bullets” in the shooting, where the director of photography was killed by the actor and co-producer Alec Baldwin, her lawyers assured today.
It is the first time since October 21, when the tragedy in Santa Fe took place, that Hannah Gutierrez Reed speaks publicly about the case.
The accident would never have happened “if real ammunition had not been included in the shooting”, her lawyers said, denying any responsibility of their client for the death of Halina Hutchins. “Hannah has no idea where the real ammunition came from,” he added.
The specialized website The Wrap reported, citing sources close to the shooting, that some members of the film crew used this revolver to shoot, with real bullets, beer cans a few hours before Baldwin took it in his hands.
Gutierrez Reed, 24, “has never seen anyone shoot with real bullets with these weapons and would never allow it,” said Jason Bowles, a lawyer at the law firm.
In the films the gunsmith is responsible for the weapons used in the various scenes and must ensure that they do not pose a danger to the actors and technicians. Firearms are supposed to be locked when not in use.
“The guns were locked at night and during meals,” said Gutierrez Reed.
According to the first data of the investigation, the young woman told the police that she had secured the weapons when the lunch break was stopped, but not the ammunition, which were left in a pram with various accessories near the plateau. Santa Fe County Sheriff Edan Mendoza said a search of the shooting site found 500 rounds of ammunition, fake or bullets, but some real bullets. All of this ammunition will be examined by police laboratories, as will the bullet that killed Hutchins and then nailed to director Joel Souza.
Real shots are strictly forbidden during shooting, just to avoid such accidents.
Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who had only worked on one feature film before Rust, said she had been given other tasks, making it very difficult for her to focus on the gunsmith's job. She had asked the production for more time to prepare the weapons at the shooting scenes, but her requests were rejected.
