The gun fired by Alec Baldwin on the set of 'Rust' that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza was reportedly left unattended for more than two hours before the tragedy, according to a new report. The news comes as lawyers representing the film's armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said that the gun, which was not supposed to contain live rounds, could have thus been tampered with.
The claims made by Gutierrez-Reed's lawyers now give a new angle to the entire story. However, amid all these, the blame game as to who was responsible for the tragic accidental death of Hutchins continues.
Where Was the Gun?
Jason Bowles, one of the attorneys of Gutierrez-Reed, told the New York Times that there were three guns on a tray of which one was used, which was handed over by the head armorer to the film's first assistant director Dave Halls, who then handed it to Baldwin.
However, a lot may have happened just before than or in between Gutierrez-Reed handing over the gun and Baldwin finally using it. Another attorney of Gutierrez-Reed, Robert Gorence, said that she had loaded the guns with dummy rounds for a scene to be shot in the afternoon. She then placed a set of socks over them so that no passersby notices it or mistakenly picks them up.
After that she went for lunch. Gorence said that since the guns had dummy rounds there was no point keeping an eye on them all the time. "Was there a duty to safeguard them 24/7?" Gorence said. "The answer is no, because there were no live rounds."
The attorneys are now stressing that the guns may have been tampered with and the dummy rounds were replaced with live rounds that Gutierrez-Reed didn't know.
Contradictory Statements
The attorneys discussed the shooting during an appearance on the TODAY Show, which included Bowles suggesting there might have been an attempted sabotage in relation to the accident.
"How did a live round get on set, and who put that live round on the set?" Bowles said when asked about a live round in a box of dummy ammunition. "There was a box of dummy rounds labeled 'dummy.' "We don't know whether the live round came from that box. We're assuming somebody put the live round in that box."
However, the comments by Bowels and Gorence contradict a Santa Fe Sheriff's Office affidavit that said Gutierrez-Reed told investigators that the guns were locked in a safe during a lunch break prior to the fatal shooting during a rehearsal.
The new theory by the two attorney's although aren't supported by any evidence. Instead, they are going all out to defend Gutierrez-Reed. "Safety is Hannah's number one priority on set. Ultimately this set would never have been compromised if live ammo were not introduced. Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from," the statement from Bowles and fellow attorney Gorence, who also appeared on the TODAY Show, stated.
Hutchins, 42, was shot in the torso by Baldwin, who was rehearsing a scene where he pointed the gun at the camera — thinking the gun was loaded with "dummies."
