(Headline USA) The armorer on the set of “Rust” said last week that actor Alec Baldwin violated several gun safety rules right before he fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured another.
Hannah Gutierrez Reed said Baldwin neglected to ask her to inspect the revolver he used in the fatal shooting, and knowingly pointed the firearm at crew members anyway.
“Mr. Baldwin knew that he could never point a firearm at crew members under any circumstances and had a duty of safety to his fellow crew members,” she said in a statement on Saturday.
“Yet he did point the gun at Halyna before the fatal incident against all rules and common sense.”
Gutierrez Reed said Baldwin and others on the set “had a duty and responsibility to call” her in for “inspection of the gun and safety instruction before any gun scene was conducted.”
“Hannah was not called into the Church before the impromptu gun scene rehearsal and she should have been,” her attorneys said, according to CNN.
The armorer also said she encountered “constant resistance” from Baldwin during her time on set. She allegedly emphasized “the importance of training Mr. Baldwin in the cross draw, which is dangerous.” But “he never accepted the offer and Hannah was not able to conduct that training as well as other training she wanted to do.”
Hutchins’s family sued Baldwin last month for wrongful death, alleging he and other producers on the “Rust” set showed “callous” disregard in response to safety complaints. They cited many of Gutierrez Reed’s accusations and said they are seeking unspecified but “substantial” damages.
Baldwin has denied any wrongdoing and accused Gutierrez Reed of not preparing the gun he used properly.
“Baldwin has no knowledge of what happened to the gun from the time Reed relieved him of it before lunch to the time he was handed the gun declared ‘cold,’” his attorneys said in a counter filing last week.
