A statement from the woman assigned to oversee weapons on the set of the movie “Rust” pointed the finger at actor Alec Baldwin in the fata...
A statement from the woman assigned to oversee weapons on the set of the movie “Rust” pointed the finger at actor Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Hutchins was killed last October on the New Mexico set of the movie. No one has been charged in the incident.
On Friday, a legal filing offered Baldwin’s view of the incident, according to CNN. In the past, Baldwin had said he never pulled the trigger of the gun.
“Baldwin asked Hutchins whether she wanted to see him cock the gun, as the script required. She responded ‘yes.’ Baldwin tipped the gun down somewhat, so that the lens of the camera would be able to focus on his hand’s action on the top of the gun. While performing this action, Baldwin asked Hutchins, ‘Am I holding it too far down?’ and ‘Do you see that?’ Hutchins responded that she could see Baldwin’s action from her angle. Baldwin then pulled back the hammer, but not far enough to actually cock the gun. When Baldwin let go of the hammer, the gun went off,” the filing said.
Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer for the film, issued a statement in response, CNN reported.
“Mr. Baldwin knew that he could never point a firearm at crew members under any circumstances and had a duty of safety to his fellow crew members,” Gutierrez Reed said. “Yet he did point the gun at Halyna before the fatal incident against all rules and common sense.”
Baldwin and others on the set of a church “had a duty and responsibility to call Hannah in for inspection of the gun and safety instruction before any gun scene was conducted,” Gutierrez Reed said in her statement.
“Hannah was not called into the Church before the impromptu gun scene rehearsal, and she should have been,” the statement said.
Gutierrez Reed said she was unaware of what was taking place that day inside the church where Hutchins was shot and said Baldwin was responsible for helping the crew work in safety.
The filing from Baldwin claimed that Gutierrez Reed trained him about the gun he would use and that due to what he was told, he felt no need to check the gun for the presence of a live round.
“Reed did not instruct Baldwin to check the gun himself. In fact, she told Baldwin that it was her job to check the gun — not his,” Baldwin’s filing said.
“Similarly, Baldwin believed, based on prior gun safety training he received on movie sets, that actors should not unilaterally check guns for live ammunition. If actors want to check a gun for their own peace of mind, they should only check the gun with the armorer closely supervising the process. In other words, actors may jointly inspect a gun with the armorer, but never on their own,” Baldwin’s filing said.
Gutierrez Reed offered a different scenario.
“Hannah emphasized the importance of training Mr. Baldwin in the cross draw, which is dangerous,” the statement said.
“He never accepted the offer, and Hannah was not able to conduct that training, as well as other training she wanted to do, because of budgeting and being overruled by production,” the statement said.
The armorer said she suffered “constant resistance” from Baldwin and the production staff of “Rust.”
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