The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Gunsmith from "Rust" thought the bullets from Baldwin's gun were blank

2021-11-04T01:18:39.903Z


Attorneys for Rust's gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez Reed claimed that she loaded the gun Alec Baldwin fired without knowing they were not blanks.


"Rust" assistant director targeted by deadly accident 0:46

(CNN) -

"Rust" gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez Reed loaded the gun with what she believed to be blanks before Alec Baldwin used it on set, fatally shooting the film's cinematographer, Gutierrez Reed's lawyers said in an interview with NBC that aired on Wednesday.

"There was a box of blank bullets and the box is labeled 'blank bullets.' Hannah took them out of that box which, by all indications, should have been reliable, which only contained blank bullets," said the attorney for Gutierrez Reed, Jason Bowles. "She loaded bullets from that box into the gun only to find out later, and she had no idea, she inspected the bullets, that there was a real one. Now we don't know, however, if that cartridge came from that box. We guess so We assume that someone put the real bullet in that box, and if you think about it, the person who put the real bullet in the fake bullet box had to have the purpose of sabotaging this. There is no other reason to do that. "

  • Checking Alec Baldwin's gun on the set of 'Rust' wasn't the assistant director's responsibility, lawyer says

Bowles said: "I think ... no one can be ruled out at this point, because we know a couple of facts: we know there was a real bullet in a box of fake bullets that shouldn't have been there, at least one real bullet. There were people who had left the set, who had left because they were unhappy. We have a window of time between approximately 11 and one on that day when firearms were sometimes unattended. So there was a chance to manipulate this scene. "

Another Gutierrez Reed attorney, Robert Gorence, said the prop van "was completely unattended at all times," leaving "access and opportunity" to access the ammunition.

"The tray was outside the church for more than two hours unguarded after she had set it up for what was to be an afternoon filming session outside the church," Gorence told NBC.

His attorneys said Gutierrez Reed was not in the church at the time of filming because the meeting was supposed to be just technical preparation, not requiring his presence.

advertising

Gutierrez Reed was the gunsmith and prop assistant in the film.

She handed the gun Baldwin fired to assistant director David Halls, according to her attorneys.

Bowles said Gutierrez Reed spun the gun barrel for Halls.

"She showed him each and every one of the cartridges in the drum, which were six. There were six fake cartridges, according to her, in that gun," he said.

"He spun it around and showed it to Mr. Halls and at that point gave him custody."

Bowles maintains that the dummy ammunition looks real.

An attorney representing Halls said it was not Halls's responsibility to confirm whether the weapon delivered to Baldwin was loaded, even though Halls previously acknowledged to investigators that he should have checked all ammunition before declaring the firearm safe. .

"He is not responsible for proving it," attorney Lisa Torraco said in an interview on Fox News Monday.

"That is not the job of the assistant principal. If you choose to search the firearm because you want to make sure everyone is safe, you can do it, but that is not your responsibility."

Gutierrez Reed's attorneys said she is devastated and heartbroken by the tragedy and is cooperating with the investigation.

CNN is seeking comment from the "Rust" production company.

The sheriff's department did not comment on the claims of Gutierrez Reed's attorneys.

This was the 911 call for help after shooting Alec Baldwin 0:57

Complaints about security on the set of "Rust"

In a brief comment to CNN Tuesday night, Lane Luper, Camera A's first assistant on "Rust," said the team was "rushed and unsafe" on the set of the

western

.

On Wednesday, in an interview with the ABC network, he elaborated citing the laxity of "the safety of the weapons, the lack of rehearsals, [and] the lack of preparation of the team for what we were doing that day."

Emails obtained by CNN show that Luper's resignation was accompanied by a series of complaints about an unsafe work environment.

"During the shooting of shootings at this job, things often happen very quickly," Luper wrote.

Luper wrote about two accidental gun discharges on set and a special effects mess that set off explosives around equipment between takes.

"Personally, I suffer from tinnitus and the explosive special effects made my ears ring until I got home. To be clear, there are NO safety meetings these days," Luper wrote, using an abbreviation for special effects.

Luper also complained about the lack of adequate team accommodation close to the set, payroll delays and "the most lax covid policies that I have personally seen in any company or private environment related to cinema."

"In my 10 years as a camera assistant I have never worked on a show that cares so little about the safety of its equipment," he wrote.

In a statement to CNN, the producers of "Rust" called Luper's allegations about the film's budget and safety "outright false," adding that "it's not surprising when you consider that his job was to be an operator. camera, and that it had absolutely nothing to do [with] security protocols or budgets, nor did I know about them. "

"Safety is always the number one priority in our films, and it is truly horrible to see how some use this tragedy for their personal gain," added the producers.

In previous statements, the producers of "Rust" maintained that they were not aware of any official complaints about the safety of the weapons or the props and that they are conducting an internal review.

A second member of the "Rust" crew also spoke about security concerns on set in a resignation letter sent to the production the day before filming, according to a copy of the message obtained by CNN.

"I too feel anxious on set, I've seen our AD rushing to get shots firsthand and skipping important protocols," wrote Jonas Huerta, the film's digital services technician, using an abbreviation for assistant director. (AD).

Huerta, who said he suffers from tinnitus, a condition characterized by ringing in the ears, described "more [than] a few occasions when I have been near guns being fired regardless of my hearing."

"Sometimes [the AD] gets so rushed that the props man hasn't even had a chance to bring earplugs and he rolls over and the actors shoot anyway," he said.

Huerta also mentioned her concern about the accommodation.

"I feel like my health and safety are in danger," Huerta wrote of having to go home instead of going to a nearby hotel after a long day at work.

CNN contacted the "Rust" production for comment on Huerta's resignation letter.

On Tuesday, Baldwin shared on his social media an account by a member of the "Rust" crew presenting a very different version of the environment on set, suggesting that the criticism about unsafe conditions and unhappiness was exaggerated.

The comments appear to have been made on a social media account of "Rust" costume designer Terese Magpale Davis.

In the post, he claims that the narrative that the film was plagued by unsafe and chaotic conditions is a "lie" and that "the concerns were heard and addressed" by the film's producers.

"They worried about us while we worked together, and they continue to worry," he wrote, dismissing allegations that the production was knowingly bypassing things and compromising safety regulations.

"We had several security meetings. Sometimes several times a day," he wrote.

  • Alec Baldwin fired "suspected live bullet" on set of "Rust," says Santa Fe County Sheriff

Davis wrote that Halls never seemed unconcerned about safety and defended the hiring of Gutierrez Reed by writing that "the gunsmith had been an apprentice to a well-known gunsmith and had been in the same position in the same type of film a few months earlier."

Baldwin has been in telephone contact with detectives, voluntarily answering their questions, agents and the actor said.

In an interview with CNN last week, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said that determining how the gun fired by Baldwin was loaded with suspected live ammunition will be a key factor in any decision to file possible criminal charges in the case.

"I think that will end up being the key to deciding whether to press charges," he said.

Rust

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-11-04

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z
News/Politics 2024-03-28T05:25:00.011Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.