Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the onset armorer for Rust, has spoken out about the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins that took place under her watch. The tragic accident has been a wake-up call for many in the entertainment industry about the importance of care and preparation time when it comes to handling dangerous materials on set. The investigation of what exactly happened on the Rust set is ongoing, with legal repercussions still possible for Alec Baldwin and others who were involved.
The tragic on-set Rust shooting is the latest such accident, but it’s far from the first. Despite extensive care being required for the handling of prop weapons and other potentially hazardous materials, film sets are often fast-paced work environments where results take dangerous precedence over safety. The history of cinema is littered with unfortunate accidents with guns, such as the death of Brandon Lee in the first of the Crow movies. Hopefully, the tragic death of Hutchins will force some needed rethinking of necessary safety protocol.
Since the incident, Rust’s armorer has remained silent, until now. Per Variety, Gutierrez-Reed has released a statement through her lawyer, Jason Bowles, on her own experience on set. After offering deep condolences to Hutchins’ family, Gutierrez-Reed claimed that she had “no idea where the live rounds came from,” said that she has been misrepresented and slandered in the media, and that she was required to perform the duties of two full jobs on the Rust set, which created an environment where accidents were likely to happen. Read her full statement below:
“First Hannah would like to extend her deepest and most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Halyna. She was an inspirational woman in film who Hannah looked up to. She also offers her thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery to Joel. Hannah is devastated and completely beside herself over the events that have transpired.
“She would like to address some untruths that have been told to the media, which have falsely portrayed her and slandered her. Safety is Hannah’s number one priority on set. Ultimately this set would never have been compromised if live ammo were not introduced. Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from. Hannah and the prop master gained control over the guns and she never witnessed anyone shoot live rounds with these guns and nor would she permit that. They were locked up every night and at lunch and there’s no way a single one of them was unaccounted for or being shot by crew members. Hannah still, to this day, has never had an accidental discharge. The first one on this set was the prop master and the second was a stunt man after Hannah informed him his gun was hot with blanks.
“Hannah was hired on two positions on this film, which made it extremely difficult to focus on her job as an armorer. She fought for training, days to maintain weapons, and proper time to prepare for gunfire but ultimately was overruled by production and her department. The whole production set became unsafe due to various factors, including lack of safety meetings. This was not the fault of Hannah.
“Hannah and her legal team will address more of these rumors and the whole incident in an upcoming statement next week.”
To be sure, a tragedy of the scale of the Rust set shooting doesn’t take place without multiple issues taking place at once. Rust assistant director, Dave Halls, recently revealed that he broke safety protocol by not checking the rounds in the firearm before handing it to Baldwin, who was informed it was a “cold gun.” Halls would have received the gun from Gutierrez-Reed, who now claims there was no reason for live rounds to be in the weapon to begin with.
As the investigation into the Rust incident continues, more details may be brought to light as to how the loaded weapon made it into Baldwin’s hands. While no charges have been pressed yet, legal action is still a distinct possibility for several of the people involved. It remains to be seen what that could mean for the cast and crew of the film, or if the Rust accident will have any lasting influence on future film set safety protocol.
