Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the gunsmith on the set of the film Rust where a camerawoman was killed, says she indicated that she needed more time to prepare shooting scenes, but this was rejected by her supervisors. The 24-year-old gunsmith makes this known through her lawyers in a statement, in the hands of The Hollywood Reporter .
Gutierrez-Reed describes the film set where Halyna Hutchins was killed by a bullet as generally ‘unsafe’. According to her lawyers, the gunsmith had been hired for two positions and was not given sufficient time to perform them properly.
“She fought for training, days to service weapons and enough time to properly prepare shooting scenes, but this was not met by the producers and her own department,” the statement read.
Gutierrez-Reed said in the statement, as in her police interrogation, that she had no knowledge of real bullets that were present on the set. She says she checked the weapon for the exercise from the scene where Hutchins was shot and saw only dummy bullets.
“She has never seen anyone on set fire real bullets with these weapons and would never have allowed it,” the lawyers write. According to Gutierrez-Reed, the weapons were kept in a safe every night and during lunch breaks and it is impossible for a weapon to be out of sight for a period of time.
The Santa Fe sheriff, where the accident happened, said at a news conference on Wednesday that the investigation is now focused on the three people who last had the weapon in their hands: Gutierrez-Reed, recording director Dave Halls, who opposite actor Alec Baldwin stated that the weapon was cold (unloaded), and Baldwin himself, who fired the fatal shot. The actor is also associated with the film as a producer.
