Through her legal representation, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer on the set of Rust, on which Alec Baldwin accidentally fatally shot camerawoman Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza, is now speaking out.
Authorities say the pistol that Baldwin aimed at the camerawoman contained a live round; the actor told investigators he was assured the firearm was “cold,” or empty.
The statement from Reed’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, that was sent to Variety, begins with Reed sending her “deepest and most sincere condolences” to Hutchins’ family, and wishing Souza a “speedy recovery.”
It also states that Hannah is “devastated” by the incident.
The statement then addresses “some untruths that have been told to the media, which have falsely portrayed [Reed] and slandered her.”
The statement continues, “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.”
Investigators say they recovered around 500 rounds of ammunition from the set after the incident, including “a mix” of blanks, dummy rounds and live ammunition.
The statement also addresses allegations made by crew members that some of them were shooting cans during downtime on the New Mexico set.
“Hannah…never witnessed anyone shoot live rounds with these guns and nor would she permit that,” the statement claims. “They were locked up every night.”
However, the lawyer also states, “Hannah was hired on two positions on this film, which made it extremely difficult to focus on her job as an armorer.”
Shifting the responsibility from the 24-year-old, who was only working as an armorer on her second film, the statement contends that Reed “fought for training…and proper time to prepare for gunfire but ultimately was overruled by production and her department.”
The attorneys then alleges, “The whole production set became unsafe,” adding, “This was not the fault of Hannah.”
Investigators say it’s too early to tell if anyone will be charged in the case.
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