In a rather shocking allegation, Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's lawyers stated that a "disgruntled" crew member deliberately "sabotaged" the set, causing the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Ever since actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot Hutchins with a prop gun during rehearsals on the sets of the movie Rust, the blame game over her death has been going on in a full swing.
Gutierrez-Reed was the last person to have handled the gun before Baldwin fired it. She received a lot of flak after multiple crew members hinted at her 'incompetency' and prior complaints against her regarding 'carelessness in handling weapons on sets' surfaced. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed lawyered up soon after she was targetted in the crossfire of 'Who's responsible for Halyna Hutchins' death?'
'Somebody put the live round in the box with the purpose of sabotaging the set'
Gutierrez-Reed loaded the gun used by Baldwin from a box of ammunition that was only supposed to have dummy rounds, her lawyer, Jason Bowles told the Today show. "We know there was a live round in a box of dummy rounds that shouldn't have been there. We're assuming somebody put the live round in that box," he said. Bowles further alleged that the person who put the live round in a box of dummy rounds "had to have the purpose of sabotaging the set." "There's no other reason that you would mix that live round in with a dummy round," he added.
Bowles called the person "disgruntled" and "unhappy" before adding that whoever did it "wanted to prove a point." The lawyer then cashed in on the incidents of calls of strike and a walkout by the camera crew on the sets of Rust to add girth to his statements. "And we know that people had already walked up to set the day before, and they had been and then they're unhappy," he said.
'There was an opportunity to tamper with the scene'
Referring to the two hours during which the "firearms were unattended" before Baldwin started rehearsals, Bowles emphasized that "there was opportunity to tamper with the scene." Fellow attorney Robert Gorence also noted that the prop ammo "was completely unattended at all times, giving someone access and opportunity."
Gutierrez-Reed was not present at the scene when Baldwin fired the shots. Her attorneys insisted that the actor shouldn't have fired the gun without the armorer's presence. "If there was something that was going to involve one of the firearms she [Gutierrez-Reed] had to be there," Gorence stated. The attorneys further noted that they are "definitely cooperating with the authorities" before adding that Gutierrez-Reed is "heartbroken, and devastated by what's happened."
