Alec Baldwin's fatal shot on the set of "Rust": the gunsmith had not checked the revolver
Santa Fe police press conference in October 2021 on the progress of the investigation into the drama that took place on the shooting of the western "Rust".
Getty Images via AFP - SAM WASSON
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The young woman who was responsible for the guns on the set of the western where Alec Baldwin accidentally killed a filmmaker at the end of October finally told investigators that she had been negligent in checking the revolver operated by actor Alec Baldwin just before the drama.
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Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the gunsmith of the film
Rust
, was questioned by the police, in particular seeking to determine how live ammunition could have been introduced on the set of the western on a low budget, resulting in the death of the cinematographer. , Halyna Hutchins.
The latter was fatally injured when Alec Baldwin activated a revolver, which had been presented to him as harmless, while he was working on a scene.
The weapon, not much verified
According to a document released Tuesday, Nov. 30, by Sheriff's Services in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the gunsmith told officers she loaded five dummy cartridges into the gun just before lunch break. .
On resumption, she had extracted the weapon from the safe where she had placed it and added a sixth cartridge, then handed the gun to another employee of the set.
Shortly after, she said she heard a detonation coming from the set.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed told investigators she "did
n't really check
the gun
very much
" because it was locked up over lunch.
She had previously claimed to ignore the presence of any live ammunition on set.
Police seized more than 500 ammunition on the set, presented as a mixture of blank cartridges, dummy cartridges and some ammunition suspected to be real.
On November 30, investigators reported possible leads that could explain the presence of this live ammunition, formally prohibited on set by the rules in force in the film industry in the United States.
Real "home-
made
"
ammunition
One of the suppliers of the ammunition used on the set of
Rust
, Seth Kenney, indicated that he potentially sold the film crew handcrafted ammunition - possibly from recycled items - with a logo that matches to the one on the lethal cartridge. For his part, Hannah Guttierez-Reed's father, Thell Reed, a renowned film gunsmith, said he had provided Seth Kenney with “
homemade
” live
ammunition
for the preparations for a film on which they had previously collaborated. And he claims that his colleague never returned them to him.
The police investigation is continuing and, if no arrests have taken place, criminal prosecution is not excluded if responsibility is established.
Alec Baldwin, who is also producer of
Rust
, lamented this "
accident
" which he said had "
a chance in a trillion
" to occur.
(
with AFP
)
►
To read also: Fatal shooting on a shoot in the United States: prosecution against Alec Baldwin "not excluded"
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