While actor and accused reckless killer Alec Baldwin has received most of the attention since shooting cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with what he assumed was a blank gun back on the set of Rust in October 2021, he’s not the only one flirting with justice in the killing.
The trial for the film’s armorer, 25-year-old Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, began yesterday in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Gutierrez-Reed is charged with involuntary manslaughter and tampering charges for allegedly loading a functional .45 revolver with dummy rounds and at least one live round, according to a Fox News report.
After the shooting, investigators found six live rounds on the set of the movie, some enclosed in a box of dummy ammo, in a gun belt worn by actor Jensen Ackles and in the Baldwin’s bandolier.
Prosecutors say that for whatever reason, Gutierrez-Reed was the one who brought the live rounds to the movie set.
“She failed to discover them for 12 days,” said prosecutor Kari Morrissey. “She loaded one of them into a gun. It was then manipulated by an actor and very foreseeably someone died.”
According to the complaint filed against Gutierrez-Reed, “Rust movie production hired Defendant Hannah Gutierrez as the Armorer on the movie set, and as such she was responsible for checking the firearm and ammunition prior to each use to ensure that live rounds never made their way into the firearm. Defendant Gutierrez failed at this simple task, and Ms. Hutchens died as a result.”
Adding to the armorer’s difficulty is evidence from her phone that she was smoking marijuana at the hotel during filming of the movie. Prosecutors plan to use that information in their attempt to convince the jury that factor contributed to her apparent negligence on the set.
If convicted, Gutierrez-Reed could face up to 18 months in prison. Baldwin, the star of the ill-fated film, faces similar charges and a similar prison term if convicted.
