The Rust film set’s head electrician has spoken out about the moment Halyna HUTCHINS was accidentally shot by Alec Baldwin and held her in his arms.
Serge Svetnoy stood next to Baldwin when she was struck during rehearsals. Baldwin was practicing drawing the weapon on a pew in a church.
In an emotional Facebook post, the gaffer said that he and Hutchins were good friends. He described his pain at having to hold her die in his arms.
She was shot in her chest while Joel Souza, her director, was also hurt. She stumbled back and said that she couldn’t feel her legs.
Svetnoy wrote that ‘Yes, I was standing shoulderto-shoulder alongside Halyna in this fatal shot that claimed her life and injured Joel Souza. She was dying, and I was holding her in mine. My hands were covered in her blood.
Svetnoy blames her death on ‘negligence and unprofessionalism’ as he blasted those responsible for not doing their jobs properly and claimed producers hired an inexperienced armorer.
He wrote, “I don’t wish anyone to go through the same thing I did, what her husband Matt Hutchins, her son Andros, and Alec Baldwin went through, and what it was like for me to be there.” He must accept the fact that he took human life because of unprofessional individuals.
The electrician said Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, who was named on Friday as the person who loaded Baldwin’s vintage Colt pistol, was too young to be doing her job.
Serge Svetnoy has described the harrowing moment he held Halyna Hutchins in his arms after she was accidentally shot by Alec Baldwin (pictured: Serge and Halyna)
Svetnoy stood next to Baldwin during rehearsals when she was struck. Baldwin was practicing drawing the weapon on a church pew.
In an emotional Facebook post, the gaffer stated that he and Hutchins were close friends and had worked together on many films before.
He said, “The negligence of the person who was supposed check the weapon on site did not cause this; the person responsible for announcing that the loaded gun was present on site did not cause this.”
“The person who should have checked the weapon before bringing it into the set did not.” The result is the DEATH OF A HUMAN!
“I’m certain that we had professionals in every department, except one – the one that was responsible for the weapons.
‘There’s no way a twenty four-year-old woman could be a professional with armoury; there’s no way her more or less the same age friend from school, neighbourhood, Instagram, or God knows what else can be a pro in this field.
Producers were urged to prevent such an accident from happening again by the experienced crew member. They should also hire qualified staff who are familiar with how to safely operate on potentially dangerous sets.
Hannah Gutierrez – Reed was seen for the very first time on Monday, October 25, as she paced outside her house.
The rookie armorer was captured deep into a conversation over the phone outside her home.
Halyna HUTCHINS’ October 19, 2021 Instagram photo shows cast members and staffers Alec Baldwin and Halyna Utchins (Circled from left to right on the set Rust in Santa Fe. New Mexico).
He stated, “To save a dime sometimes you hire people who don’t fully qualify for the complex and dangerous job. You risk the lives and livelihoods of those around you and your own.
“I understand that you fight for the budget, but this cannot happen.
“There should always at least one professional in every department who is familiar with the job. It is crucial to avoid such a tragedy as the one with Halyna.
Svetnoy concluded his post by saying, “We all loved Halyna.” May God bless her soul.
Guttierez Reed was photographed at her Arizona home for the first-time since the fatal shooting.
Exclusive DailyMail.com photos captured her pacing outside her house and speaking on the telephone before she ran back inside refusing to answer the doors.
DailyMail.com obtained a call sheet naming the 24-year-old film’s assistant prop master/armorer, overseen Sarah Zachry, as per the call sheet.
Alec Baldwin (left), who shot and killed Halyna HUTCHINS (right), on Thursday after he was given a prop gun with live ammo
Hutchins also posted a photo of her crew to her Instagram page two days before she was shot.
According to a police warrant the Colt was one among three pistols left by Gutierrez–Reed. It was handed to Baldwin in the hands of Dave Halls, a British assistant director. Halls told Baldwin it was cold and that it had been loaded up with live rounds.
Cops say Baldwin was practicing drawing the weapon when it fired – fatally hitting cinematographer Hutchins, 42, and injuring director Joel Souza, 48.
After the shooting, an armorer took possession the gun and a used casing. They were turned over along with other prop guns as well as ammunition to police.
DailyMail.com obtained a call sheet indicating that the crew was practicing a mock gunfight in the church building at the time Hutchins was killed.
Co-stars Jensen Ackles, Swen Temmers and Travis Hammer were also in the scene – numbered 121 – alongside Baldwin’s stunt double Blake Teixeira and stunt coordinator Allan Graf.
Ackles spoke about his weapons training for the film a week before the tragic on-set shooting accident. Ackles, who played Dean Winchester on Supernatural for 15 seasons, shared with a crowd of admirers an anecdote regarding his brief gun training for Rust one week before Baldwin’s tragic shooting accident.
Sources say that the gun that killed Halyna Hutchins and Alec Baldwin was set off by a firearm was used to practice off-set targets. Live ammo and blanks were also stored together.
Alec Baldwin was using a Colt pistol vintage
The gun that killed the cinematographer on the set of Alec Baldwin’s Rust had been used for target practice by crew members, sources linked to the western film’s production said.
Multiple sources close to the Rust set told TMZ that crew members had used the Colt pistol recreationally before it went off in Alec Baldwin’s hands, killing Halyna Houtchins and injuring Joel Souza.
According to sources, crew members would practice shooting real bullets and some believe that a live cartridge from one of those practice sessions would make its way onto the set.
Another source said to TMZ that live ammunition and blanks were stored in the same area as the set. This could be another explanation for how a bullet was fired out of Baldwin’s Colt.
Friday’s search warrant revealed that Hannah Gutierrez Rice, Rust armorer, had placed three prop guns on a cart outside of the filming location. First assistant director Dave Halls then grabbed the Colt from that cart and brought it inside to Baldwin. He was unaware that it was loaded up with live rounds.
“Cold gun!” Halls shouted before handing the gun to Baldwin. Halls shouted “Cold gun!” Before handing the gun to Baldwin. This phrase was used to signal the crew and cast that the gun was safe to be fired for the scene, according the warrant.
Baldwin, who was filming an Old West-style scene in a church, apparently pointed at the camera and pulled the trigger. She accidentally killed Hutchins while filming him and also injured Souza, who stood by her.
Two production sources who worked with GutierrezReed previously said that this was not her first incident on a movie set.
The Daily Beast was told by two sources that Hannah Gutierrez -Reed had allegedly given an actress aged 11 a gun while filming The Old Way, Nicholas Cage’s film. She didn’t check it properly.
Sources said that there were a few instances when she loaded the blanks and did it in an unsafe manner.
“She was a bit careless about the guns, waving them around every now-and-then.”
Sources close to the Rust group claim that the fatal incident which killed Hutchins, 42 years old, and injured Souza 48 years ago was the result of production failures from top.
They also said that Baldwin was handed the gun by Halls, assistant director, and told it was safe.
According to one source, ‘He’s supposed be our last line and he failed us. “He’s not supposed to be looking at that firearm.”
A Rust production source informed The Daily Beast that there had been at least two instances in which guns were accidentally discharged on set by other crew members before Thursday’s tragic accident.
GutierrezReed was described as ‘inexperienced’ and ‘green’ by the source.
Ackles was heard saying, “I’ve got an early call tomorrow morning to have a big shootout,” in a video taken by a fan. They had me pick my weapon, and I was like, “Alright, what gun would it be?” I was confused and said, “I don’t know.” I was like, “I don’t know?” The armorer was like, “Does your gun experience?”
“A little.” She’s like, “Okay. Well, this is how to load it, and this is how we make sure it’s safe.”
Jensen’s Supernatural costar Jared Padalecki also burst into laughter after Jensen had so much experience on-camera.
He continued his story, telling the group about the armorer who told him to fire blank rounds in a field.
“So she’s like: “I’ll just put some blanks there and just fire off a few rounds towards it.
“I walk out, and she’s like, “Just make sure to pull the hammer all of the way back and aim for your target.”
Demonstrating how he did it in training, Jensen said he whipped the gun out of his holster and expertly fired the weapon, leading the armorer to jokingly call him ‘an a**hole’ for pretending like he was inexperienced.
Production notes show that the Colt pistol was not only used in 121, but also in the preceding118.
Filming was due to continue with a scene in which Baldwin was thrown into a stagecoach, but it was halted after the accidents.
Additional scenes featuring Baldwin or Ackles were originally scheduled for the weekend, but they have been postponed indefinitely.
Rust was Gutierrez-Reed’s second movie. Sources on the set described Rust as ‘inexperienced’ and ‘green’.
According to her LinkedIn page she was most recently a videographer for Synth Fire, a California-based media company and as a documentary maker for the City of Flagstaff.
She was an armorer at the Yellowstone film ranch from March to June 2021. However, according to the page, she stopped working there three months prior to Rust began filming in October.
Gutierrez-Reed was just recently out of Northern Arizona University, where she studied film and creative media between 2017 and 2020.
The daughter of legendary Hollywood armorer Thell Reed, 78, Gutierrez-Reed previously worked on Nicholas Cage movie The Old Way – admitting beforehand that she ‘wasn’t sure’ if she was ready in a podcast interview.
She said, “I almost refused to take the job because it wasn’t clear if I was ready. But, doing it, it went really well.”
In the podcast interview, she also said that loading blanks into guns was her scariest task because she didn’t know how to do it. She had also sought help from her father.
Gutierrez-Reed believed the job was done smoothly, but sources told The Daily Beast that the rookie armorer was unsafe’ and had given a gun to Ryan Kiera Armstrong, an 11-year-old actress.
Source said that she was very careless with guns and would wave it around every now-and-then. We were concerned that she loaded the blanks in an unsafe manner and that she was doing so a few times.
The insider added that they had seen her loading a gun on pebble strewn ground – which has the potential to be dangerous – before handing off the gun to Armstrong.
Source said that she was reloading the gun on ground, where there were pebbles, etc. “We didn’t see her inspect it, so we don’t know if anything got in the barrel.”
Sources close to the Rust family have indicated that the fatal incident was caused by production failures from the top.
Zak Knight (a pyrotechnics/special effects engineer and a member of Local 44) said that Hutchins’s suicide was the result of a series of failures by many people. Number two is that every person on a movie-set has the right to inspect any weapon before it’s fired. Number three is that it is illegal to put anyone in front of a weapon firing.
They claim she didn’t inspect the gun before placing it on a prop table for use.
Several sources from the set have said that Gutierrez-Reed was ‘careless with the guns’ on set
Gutierrez-Reed (left), admitted in a podcast interview that she found loading blanks into guns ‘the scariest thing’ because she didn’t know how to do it. She had sought help from her father Thell Reed (right), to overcome the fear
“He’s supposed inspect the guns, he is responsible”: Panicked 911 call from Alec Baldwin tragedy reveal how a script supervisor blamed assistant cinematographer for the death of cinematographer. But, why did ANY of these guns have live ammo at all?
Alec Baldwin’s crew recorded 911 calls and audio recordings have shown desperate attempts to save their colleague. There are also allegations of negligence.
Mamie Mitchell, the film’s script supervisor, called the shots after Baldwin accidentally shot Halyna Hutchins (42), and Joel Souza (48).
The tragedy occurred on Thursday as the group was filming Western films in the desert near Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Mitchell, a veteran script director with credits dating back as far as 1974, calls the assistant direct and accuses them of negligence.
Mitchell calls 911 to tell the woman that he needs an ambulance to Bonanza Creek Ranch. Two people were accidentally shot on a movie sets.
Mitchell is talking on the phone and instructing someone else to ‘clear’ the road to allow the ambulance to access the site.
Mitchell is then taken to Santa Fe fire and emergency medical services. He sounds panicked and demands a quick response.
‘Bonanza Creek ranch. Two people were accidentally shot on a movie-set prop gun.
“We need your help immediately. Bonanza Creek ranch. Come on.
Mitchell is then asked by the 911 operators for her details.
Mitchell, who has worked in films like No Country For Old Men and Sicario can be heard saying: “It sounds as if somebody else is calling ambulances.”
“Everybody should be. We need some assistance.
“Our director and our camerawoman have been shot.”
She then asks an actor on set: “Are you going to take him to a road?”
The 911 operator asks: “So, was it loaded avec a real gun or not?”
Mitchell replies, “I don’t, I can’t tell you that.” We have two injuries from a gunshot in a movie.
While the phone operator is inputting the details, Mitchell can be heard telling someone else: ‘OK, this f****** AD that yelled at me at lunch asking about revisions, this motherf*****.
‘Did he see me lean over my desk, and yell at you? He’s supposed inspect the guns. He is responsible for what happened.
According to a Santa Fe court warrant, the gun was one the three that Hannah Gutierrez (the film’s armorer) had placed on a cart just outside the wooden structure in which a scene was being acted.
After accidentally shooting and killing Halyna Hutchins, a distraught Alec Baldwin is seen, left, outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
Assistant director Dave Halls pulled the gun out of the cart and brought the gun inside to Baldwin. However, he was not aware that the gun was loaded with live ammunition, as a detective wrote in his search warrant application.
It is not known whether Mitchell was referring Halls in the audio.
It was not clear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez took out a shell casing from her gun and turned it over to police upon arrival, according to court records.
The 911 operator attempts to ask Mitchell how many were injured. Mitchell confusedly replies, “No, no, I’m not a script supervisor.”
Mitchell answered the operator again. It went off while I was rehearsing, and I ran to get it. We all went out there, but we doubled over the director and the camerawoman.
She tells another woman: “They are clearing roads. Can you go back – back into the town, or in the Western camp?
Mitchell is flustered and hands the phone over.
“Hello?” The man responds, “Hello?”
“Hi, I have a list of questions that I need to ask you.” “If you could answer them as well as possible,” the 911 operator said. “Are they fully alert?”
The man responds: “Yes, they’re alert.”
Operator asks if the bleeding is controlled. Man replies: “Let’s check if we can get closer… No.
It is not clear if he is implying that bleeding cannot be controlled or that he is unable to get closer.
“We’ve got one laid down,” he informs the operator, adding that they are close to gate one and have a van ready for escorting the ambulances quickly to the spot.
After speaking to investigators, Baldwin is seen lying on his back outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department.
A woman then calls back, saying: “Hi, my name is Bonanza Creek Ranch.” We actually need two ambulances and not one.
The operator replied: “OK, so we’re making a call now for someone else and we’ll get 2 up to you.”
The woman, her voice straining, replies, “OK.” Is that 10 to 15 minutes?
“I don’t know, we’re getting these right now, to your now,” the operator replies.
“What?” What? “What?” she asks, sounding panicked as her voice is heard over the phone.
“We have two ambulances headed your way.”
“What?” “What?” The woman responds, and then turns to the operator, saying: “OK, thank you.”
Joel Souza (director of Rust) is seen in November 2019 He was reportedly photographed in the shoulder
The operator replied: “You’re welcome, bye.”
Mitchell later stated that Mitchell was standing next Hutchins when she shot Mitchell.
Mitchell stated that he ran out to 911 and said “Bring everybody, Send everybody,” to The Associated Press.
“This woman is gone at her beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare and very special woman.
Mitchell stated that Mitchell was with other crew members at a private memorial service in Santa Fe Friday night.
Baldwin described the killing in a tragic accident.
“There are no words that can express my shock and sadness at the tragic accident that claimed the life of Halyna Houtchins, a wife and mother, and a colleague who we deeply admire,” Baldwin wrote on Twitter. Baldwin shared his thoughts on Twitter, stating that Baldwin is fully cooperating in the police investigation.
“My heart is broken for her husband and their son, as well as all those who loved Halyna.”
Juan Rios, sheriff’s spokesperson, said that Baldwin was allowed to travel and no charges were immediately filed.
‘He’s a free man,’ Rios said.
An aerial view of Santa Fe’s Bonanza Creek Ranch where Rust was being filmed. Workers were protesting the fact that production wouldn’t pay them to stay in Santa Fe hotels and motels, forcing them to drive an entire hour to Albuquerque.
Sources said that Baldwin was handed the gun and told by Halls, assistant director, that it was safe.
According to one source, ‘He’s supposed be our last line and he failed us. “He’s not supposed to be looking at that firearm.”
A Rust production source informed The Daily Beast that there had been at least two instances in which guns were accidentally discharged by other crew members before Thursday’s tragic accident.
Rust crew members claim that there were many complaints against the armorer on set and that at most six ‘fed up’ people had walked off set before Gutierrez-Reed handed Baldwin the gun that killed Hutchins.
The crew complained directly to Dave Hall (named in the search warrant.) Hall was the person who handed Baldwin the gun which killed Hutchins. Hall also stated that it was safe and demanded documentation on all the discharges.
‘All of our shouted at him. That better be on the production record, these guys should not be here.’ A production source said.
“That should be grounds for termination on a union movie set. You should be fired. That whole department should have had to be replaced immediately after the gun went off, without anyone knowing. Production decided to pay the ultimate price and instead of thinking better of it.
Deadline also quotes an unnamed source that said a gun had gone off “in a log cabin” while someone was holding the gun, days before Hutchins’ shooting.
“A gun had misfired twice in a closed room. They just fired loud pops – a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,’ they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges.
A spokesperson for Santa Fe County Sheriff Department stated that the investigation was still active and open. Witnesses are being interviewed and evidence is being collected.
Hutchins’ death is being investigated by the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau. Civil penalties could be imposed even if no criminal charges are filed.
Deadline reported that ‘Our state OSHA program’ is investigating this. Rebecca Roose was deputy cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Environment Department.
“The state takes safety at work very seriously and will diligently pursue this tragic death.”
Alec Baldwin tragedy leaves a ‘kind and loving cinematographer’ dead: Ukraine-born Halyna Houtchins, 42, was raised by a Soviet military base, surrounded with nuclear submarines, and trained as a journalist. She was also tipped to be a rising star of Hollywood.
Sun streaming from above, Halyna Houtchins, cinematographer smiles into the camera while she films herself riding into the New Mexico desert on horseback.
This was the last Instagram post that the married mother of one shared before Alec Baldwin shot a prop gun and accidentally killed her. Baldwin was filming a scene for a Western on a Santa Fe ranch.
Halyna, 42 years old, was born in Ukraine and raised on a Soviet military bases’surrounded by nuclear submarines and reindeer’. She had previously trained as a journalist before moving to Los Angeles where she had established her career and started a family.
Halyna was born in Ukraine and raised on a Soviet military bases’surrounded by reindeer, submarines’. She was about to embark on a project in Ireland and was looking for a bright future in Hollywood before her tragic death. Pictured in 2018.
Her social media profiles portray a clear picture of a friend and a free-spirited individual, which many have paid tribute to. Pictured: A touching post by Stephanie, a friend.
Friends recall Halyna as a kind’ and ‘loving soul’. She lived in Venice Beach with Matthew, a lawyer and their son Andros.
“Halyna loved him so deeply and enjoyed watching him become the handsome boy that he is today,” one friend wrote in an emotional Instagram tribute. “I know she is looking after Matt in this horribly frightening time.
Halyna’s smile lights up social media photos with a sense of adventure and playfulness.
She was highly respected by her peers and was regarded as a rising star by other cinematographers. Adam Mortimer, a friend, colleague, and director of the film, said to GMB that she was a person who was devoted to art and integrity. ‘I could tell that she was going be a genius.
Halya (right), on a December 2018 visit to Kiev. She was born on a military base in Ukraine and went to school at the National University of Kyiv where she studied International Journalism.
Baldwin, 62, was filming scenes for Rust, when the gun went off. Hutchins died, and Joel Souza (48), was left with injuries. The incident occurred at Bonanza Creek Ranch.
Hutchins was airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital by an air ambulance, but was declared dead shortly afterwards.
Souza was taken by ambulance from his home to the Christus St Vincent Regional Medical Center. Although his condition is unknown, he has been released.
Will Stewart, Daily Mail’s Moscow correspondent told how Halyna had been for him in mid-2000s.
“This is devastating and difficult news about the passing of Halyna Houtchins. After graduating from a local university with International Journalism, she worked for my news agency in Kyiv for several decades.
“Halyna was involved with many stories for British newspapers, magazines, but she had a special talent in documentaries, which was perhaps her first exposure to film, and in which she went on so well in America.
“At this time, while she was still with us, in 2006 she was Associate Producer on a Discovery Channel documentary on Ukrainian icon Leonid Stanyk called World’s Tallest Man. It was made by British company Wild Pictures.
‘She was instrumental to Mr Stadnyk feeling at home participating in the documentary, which focused on the problems associated with being extraordinarily tall.
“The film was made by Richard Denton, a leading British director, with Paul Hamann, former Head of Documentaries at BBC, as executive producer. Without her, it wouldn’t have happened.
‘Mr Stadnyk is a shy man who trusted Halyna, after refusing many other offers for film. He thanked her later.
‘Pictures in advance of the film show him towering over Halyna’s home in the village Podoliantsy.
“She later traveled to America with her husband Matt. They achieved great success through her immense talent and creativity as well as her constant determination to learn.
“She once said to my Russian colleagues that she felt like she was a perpetual student of America. But her efforts paid off and she got the success she deserved.
“It is tragic she died in such cruel and inexplicable circumstances while doing the job that she loved.
“Our thoughts, prayers, and best wishes to Matt and their son, Halyna and their family in Ukraine.
Richard Denton is the producer behind Shakespeare Uncovered, and many films in the ex-USSR. He said today: “Halyna has been the most wonderful, vital and lively person to work with.”
“She was friendly, helpful, and very kind. She did everything, from translating interviews to getting Leonid’s horse moving in the right direction.
“She was completely unpretentious, and incredibly professional.”
Her death was’senseless’ and’stupid’.