As the investigation progresses, new elements appear.
According to the latest information, unveiled by a production company on Monday, the assistant director who gave Alec Baldwin the weapon responsible for the death of a director of photography on a set last week had already been fired from a previous film for an accident involving a gun.
"Dave Halls was fired from filming
Freedom's Path
in 2019 after a crew member sustained minor injuries when a gun was accidentally
fired
," said a producer of the film, who is not out again. “Halls was kicked off the set immediately after the prop shot. The production did not resume running until Dave left the scene, ”added this source, adding that a written report had been made at the time.
An accident that echoes the much more dramatic one that happened on the set of "Rust" last Thursday.
Dave Halls had handed Alec Baldwin a supposedly empty weapon that the actor had used to rehearse a scene.
A shot accidentally went off, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
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The police investigation, still ongoing, has not yet clarified the responsibilities of those present on October 21 on the ranch in Santa Fe (New Mexico) during the filming of "Rust".
No prosecution has been initiated at this point but attention is focused on those who handled the weapon before the fatal shot, in particular Dave Halls and the chief gunsmith of the shoot, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24.
Live ammunition on the set?
Specialists emphasize that the role of a gunsmith is to constantly watch over the firearms on set and to check at all stages whether or not they are loaded.
According to The Wrap, a site specializing in entertainment, which quotes sources close to the shooting of "Rust", the weapon that killed Halyna Hutchins had been used just hours before the fatal shot by members of the team "to pass time ”by shooting beer cans.
The very strict rules of the film industry in this area, however, prohibit any presence of live ammunition on a film set, precisely to avoid this type of accident.
Pressed to speak out on these accusations, the production of "Rust" had not reacted Monday afternoon.
To read also Fatal shot of Alec Baldwin: "No real bullet is found on a movie set, it is the rule"
The investigators were able to clarify the course of events after hearing the various witnesses.
According to the first statements, Alec Baldwin "was sitting on a bench in a church setting, and he was practicing drawing" in front of the camera.
Director Joel Souza was looking over the shoulder of the 42-year-old cinematographer, who was shot in the torso last Thursday and was pronounced dead hours later.
After the shot, the filmmaker "grabbed the abdomen" and said she could no longer feel her legs, said the director, adding that she had "started to stagger back".
Shot in the shoulder, Joel Souza said he heard what sounded like "the sound of a whip, and a big
bang
" as he stood behind the victim.
Savings of candles
The assistant director, Dave Halls, had however announced that the weapon was "cold", that is to say supposed to be empty and therefore harmless in the jargon of the cinema.
Joel Souza, however, said "not to be sure" that the weapon underwent another security check after the team's lunch break.
In any case, a gunshot was fired, an accident that sent shockwaves through Hollywood.
According to investigators, Dave Halls said he did not know that live ammunition was in the weapon.
VIDEO.
Fatal shot on set: Alec Baldwin "devastated"
It was Hannah Gutierrez Reed, a 24-year-old film gunsmith, who had prepared the gun, and placed it on a cart with two other weapons.
The chief electrician of the filming, Serge Svetnoy, blasted on Facebook a drama caused by "negligence and lack of professionalism", considering that she was too young to "be a professional in weapons".
"To save candles, we sometimes hire people who are not fully qualified for a complicated and dangerous job," he accuses.
Guillaume Delouche, gunsmith for Hollywood for nearly 30 years, said he was “very surprised” that someone of this age and with only two films to his credit, “could be the chief gunsmith on a film which must contain a lot of combat scenes with firearms ”.
The drama revived the debate on the safety of teams and the use of weapons on the sets.
A petition on the change.org site, calling for a ban on real firearms on filming and for better working conditions for the teams, had collected, this Tuesday morning, more than 30,000 signatures.