The deadly chain of events on set that led to Alec Baldwin being handed a gun with live ammunition and accidentally shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins have become clearer after it emerged last night the actor fired a live round, believing it to be a blank.
Baldwin, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, aimed and fired towards a camera operated by Hutchins, striking her in the chest and director Joel Souza in the shoulder.
Baldwin fired the shot and was heard saying, ‘In all of my years, i’ve never received a hot pistol.’
Experts yesterday said that safety on set is often very tight with no live bullets ever used in filming and it remains unclear why a firearm loaded with live ammunition was on the Rust set at all.
A warrant that was released Friday showed that the gun had been taken out by Armament Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and handed to Baldwin by assistant director Dave Halls, who told him it was ‘cold’, a phrase used to signal to cast and crew the gun is safe to fire for the scene. But how did this deadly chain of events unfold?
Alec Baldwin (pictured in Miami Blues), accidentally shot a live round at the camera, killing Hutchins while she was filming him and injuring Joel Souza, her director.
Yesterday, Alec Baldwin, left, is seen crying outside Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office. He accidentally shot and killed Halyna Hutchins (right).
Baldwin was given a gun and live ammunition
Minutes before the accident, aHannah Gutierrez-Reed, a rmorer, placed three prop guns on a cart near the filming location. A search warrant was released on Friday.
Dave Halls, first assistant director, took one of the firearms home – a Colt revolver with a vintage-style Colt design, DailyMail.com exclusively learned. However, a search warrant revealed that it was loaded in live bullets.
“Cold gun!” Halls shouted before handing the gun to Baldwin. Halls shouted, “Cold gun!” before handing Baldwin the gun. The phrase was used to signal to the cast and crew that it was safe to fire at the scene, according to the warrant.
Baldwin was filming a scene in an Old West-style church. She then fired a live round at the camera, accidentally killing Hutchins and injuring Joel Souza, her director.
A search warrant was released Friday stating that Hannah Gutierrez (left), an armorer, placed three prop guns on a cart near the filming location. Assistant director Dave Halls (right), then grabbed the gun and brought it inside to Baldwin.
A shot taken on Rust’s set shows crew members and cast receiving safety briefings before filming stunts. This image was uploaded on Instagram a week earlier
The warrant stated that one bullet struck Hutchins in Hutchins’ chest. The bullet then struck director Joel Souza in the shoulder while he was standing behind Hutchins, injuring him.
Baldwin immediately reacted to the firing of the gun by asking why he was given a ‘hot gun’, which means one that contained live bullets.
DailyMail.com exclusively learned that the fatal shot was fired by a Colt revolver of vintage design.
Hutchins was airlifted from the airport to the hospital, but was later declared dead. Souza was transported to the hospital by ambulance, but was released on Thursday evening.
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.
Baldwin also took off the Western costume he was currently wearing, which was stained with blood and gave it to police.
Friday’s warrant was obtained so investigators could document the scene at Ranch where the shooting occurred.
The difference between blanks and live rounds is that the tip on a blank does not contain the lethal bullet. Sometimes they are replaced by cotton or paper. Dummy bullets, which look similar to ordinary bullets, but aren’t meant to contain the bullet tip, aren’t meant for use.
DailyMail.com exclusively learned that this fatal shot was fired by a Colt revolver of vintage design.
Baldwin was immediately able to fire the gun and asked why he had been given a hot’ gun. This means that it contained live bullets.
Rust was armorer Gutierrez-Reed’s second ever film
Rust was Gutierrez Reed’s second film as an armourer after her first movie on The Old Way starring Nicolas Cage.
After filming was finished, she revealed that she wasn’t sure if she was ready to take the job.
“I almost refused to take the job because it wasn’t clear if I was ready but it went really smoothly,” she said in a podcast interview last month.
Gutierrez Reed, 24, is the daughter and legendary Hollywood armorer and firearms consultant Thell Reed. She was trained from a young age.
Halls is an experienced assistant director with many credits on productions involving prop gun, including Fargo, The Matrix Reloaded and the TV cop comedy Reno 911.
Halls was the second unit’s first assistant director on The Crow Salvation in 2000. This sequel to the film in the same title in which Bruce Lee’s son Brandon Lee was killed by a firearms accident in 1993, was Halls’s second unit.
Neither he, nor GutierrezReed, immediately responded to messages from DailyMail.com on Friday night.
Although neither has been charged nor named as a suspect in the case (although a police investigation continues), neither has been arrested.
Why was live ammunition even on the set?
Live ammunition is not used on film sets, and Baldwin’s shooting of and killing of a cinematographer is a ‘total mystery,’ a Hollywood armorer said.
Mike Tristan (60), who has been providing guns to movie sets for over thirty years, said that Halyna Huschins’ injuries shouldn’t have been possible.
Tristan, a former Baldwin employee, stated that any professional armorer would have checked the weapon (which he believes is a Western), before handing it over to the 63-year old.
Tristan stated that there should have been blanks in this gun. The job of the on-set armourer is to verify that before turning the weapon over.
“They then make sure that each actor stands on a mark and never points a gun at the cast or crew. They give them an aim to point towards and the editing makes it look like they were pointing toward their co-actor.
“That’s why everyone is confused in the industry, how this happened is a total puzzle at the moment.
Tristan worked alongside Baldwin in 1998’s Thick As Thieves. Tristan says he was an ‘total professional.
Tristan said that he was a great person to work with and was very secure.
The tragedy has forced the production to halt. Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident and ‘collecting information’, a spokesperson said Friday
They were upset that they weren’t being put up in Sante Fe (the nearest town to the ranch where they were filming) and were instead being told they had to drive every night to Albuquerque following long shifts. Some workers claimed they were sleeping in cars at the set in order to avoid it.
He said that Hutchins had suffered a terrible wound from the shooting and that there was speculation that a real bullet might have been used.
Tristan added, “If that’s true, that would be unheard-of, we never ever ever have real rounds in a set.”
“I’ve heard people get hurt by blanks, but I don’t know how that could have caused such severe damage.
“When I supply guns, we use blanks, which are brass casings that have powder inside them to make flashes. The worst injury you can get is a powder burn which is mildly irritating.
Tristan, who worked with Bruce Willis, Russel Crowe, and Cristian Bale, said that it wasn’t Baldwin’s job check the gun.
He said, “Someone professional should have been handling this gun, it makes no sense.”
Tristan said that he hoped production didn’t avoid hiring a professional armourer to cut costs. This is something he has heard about happening on other sets.
He said, “It’s not dangerous as long as the right people are there.”
Another dramatic episode occurred Saturday when Baldwin’s stunt-double accidentally fired two live shots after being told that the gun had been ‘cold’ by witnesses, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“There should have been an inquiry into what happened,” the crew member stated, adding that there had been three accidental shooting incidents on set.
“There were no safety meetings. There was no guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again. They wanted to rush, rush and rush.
Hours before the tragedy, union members fled the set out of safety concerns
Unionized staff members on Wednesday walked off the set of Rust, set in 1880’s Kansas, which stars Baldwin as the infamous outlaw Harland Rust, whose grandson is sentenced to hang for an accidental murder.
They complained of long hours, poor conditions, and another safety incident that occurred days earlier that involved ‘two misfires’ of a prop gun.
Deadline quotes an unnamed source that said a gun had been set off “in a cabin” while someone was holding it, days before the shooting that killed Hutchins.
“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.
Rust Production LLC didn’t respond to DailyMail.com’s repeated requests for comment on Friday regarding the incident. However, members of the union representing many of the crew involved in the production stated that they had expressed concerns about safety on-set.
They were surprised to discover that they had been replaced by locals when they arrived to clear their stuff on Thursday.
It raises questions about who these local workers were, their training, and how extensive they checked the weapon before it was handed over to Baldwin.
The prop master, who was yet to be identified, was a nonunion worker who was ‘just brought into’ to replace workers who left because of safety concerns, according to a source familiar with the movie.
Baldwin and Hutchins (circled), are seen together on the set for Rust in an Instagram photo she posted two days ago that said the crew of Rust were supporting a strike of the IATSE union.
Aerial view of the Bonanza Creek Ranch, Santa Fe, where the movie was being shot. Workers were protesting the fact that they wouldn’t be paid to stay in hotels or motels in Sante Fe. Instead they were forced to drive an entire hour to Albuquerque.
IATSE Local 44, which had members involved in the Rust productions, stated in a statement that no union members were on set on Thursday.
One text message, which was shared numerous times by union members on social media, refers a ‘walkout’ by staff the morning before the tragedy.
According to the text message, Halyna was one among those who decided to stay. She was a member IATSE Local 600 and had been campaigning to improve conditions for her team before she was murdered.
Members of the union IATSE claim that multiple gun safety protocols were violated, regardless of what happened.
“We have a strict rule that no live ammunition is allowed to enter a prop truck or set at anytime. It’s just not possible.
‘If you see bullets on set they are complete dummy rounds and are in no way functional. This goes back to Brandon Lee. There’s protocol.
According to Zachary Knight, a member IATSE Local 44 union, “Many, many people had failed to follow the protocols we put in place for this to occur,” DailyMail.com reported on Friday.
Knight, a licensed pyrotechnic said that the accident may have been caused by the differences in gun laws between New Mexico (California) and New Mexico (New Mexico).
California’s film sets require both a trained armourer and a master prop maker. This is the standard the union follows.
Los Angeles is home to some of the most highly-skilled people in the country. He told DailyMail.com that you can’t guarantee it as you travel the country.
Before the tragedy, union members vented on social networking about the terrible conditions on set. They spoke out about how they preferred to sleep in their cars on the set than drive back to Albuquerque, because they were too tired.
IATSE threatened a strike that would have hampered Hollywood productions in the days preceding the tragedy. Poor wages and overwork were some of the complaints.
Baldwin recorded a video of himself encouraging the union members to strike if they felt they needed to, saying studio bosses ‘don’t give a f**k about you’, that the union shared online.
There is a direct relationship between the hours we work and maintaining a safe setting. Knight, a special effects specialist, said that there is no safe setting if we are all exhausted.
He said that Rust had been offered to a different union member propmaster, but that he declined it because the pay was too low. Hutchins was friends with that woman.
Knight claimed that whatever happened in the days leading to her death was caused by a series of failures by multiple people.
“There should never have been live rounds on a set for a movie, that’s number 1. Number two states that everyone on a movie set is entitled to inspect the weapon before it is fired. Number three is that it is illegal to put anyone in front of a weapon firing.
“A movie in which the barrel is pointed down to the camera lens should not have an operator behind it. It is obvious that this gun was pointed directly at two people.
“We would have added a barrier between them. Many people did not follow our protocols… each accident is a series.