Alec Baldwin’s fatal shot: the weapon used had not been correctly verified by the assistant director

On Thursday October 21, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins lost her life after being shot by Alec Baldwin on the set of the western Rust. A tragedy that Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza is trying to shed light on.

This Wednesday, the lawyer spoke on the investigation in a press conference, assuring: “I think there was a certain carelessness on this set and I think there are issues that the industry [du cinéma] and maybe the state of New Mexico needs to bend over. “

It is in particular the seriousness of the work of the assistant-director of the film, David Halls, which is called into question. According to the minutes of his hearing, he also admitted not having checked all the bullets in the barrel of the gun he gave to Alec Baldwin by telling him that it was cold, therefore not loaded with live bullets.

“David indicated that when Hannah [Gutierrez Reed, l’armurière du film, ndlr] showed him the gun before continuing the rehearsal, he only remembered seeing three rounds“, specifies the report. But also:”He indicated that he should have checked them all, but didn’t, and couldn’t remember if she had spun the barrel.“

Hannah Gutierrez Reed in the spotlight

The 24-year-old chief weapons officer was also heard by investigators to whom she told that live ammunition was not used on the set. Which seems contrary to the statements of the sheriff who indicated that several live ammunition were probably recovered from the scene, in addition to the one that killed Halyna Hutchins before lodging in the shoulder of director Joel Souza, now out of the woods. .

Indeed, searches carried out on the filming location led to the seizure of around 500 cartridges, dummy or blank, among which there could be live ammunition, which must be confirmed by forensic analyzes.

Moreover, according to The Wrap, Hannah Gutierrez Reed had officiated shortly before on another western, The Old Way, where she had been subject to several complaints. She had notably provoked the anger of the star of the film, Nicolas Cage, by not respecting basic security protocols such as the announcement of the arrival and use of weapons on the set.

Also present during the press conference, the Santa Fe prosecutor, Mary Carmack-Altwies, insisted that it was still too early to establish responsibility but that criminal prosecution was not to be ruled out, adding that “no one has been dismissed“.