On Monday, Lisa Torraco, the attorney for Rust assistant director Dave Halls, had a tense exchange with Martha MacCallum of Fox News, in which the lawyer shifted the blame for last week’s fatal set shooting away from her client.
It had been widely reported that it was Halls who handed the firearm to Alec Baldwin without checking it first, and after declaring the gun was “cold” — or empty.
But when Baldwin pulled the trigger on the Western-style Colt revolver, a live round fired from it, fatally striking cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
When questioned if her client indeed handed the weapon to the actor, Torraco demurred. “The armorer [Hanna Gutierrez-Reed] brought the firearm in to the scene. The armorer is responsible, they make sure the firearm is safe. The armorer opens the revolver, opens the round [sic]. My client didn’t load the firearm. My client didn’t point it and he didn’t pull the trigger,” Torraco insisted.
The lawyer claimed facts in the case were being “twisted.”
MacCallum repeatedly asked Torraco if Halls handed the gun to Baldwin, but she was evasive.
“What I’m saying is I want to put the facts together. I want to deal with evidence,” she said.
She also added, “Whether or not he handed the firearm directly to Alec Baldwin at that moment or whether the armorer handed it to Alec Baldwin at that moment doesn’t really matter because he didn’t load it, he’s not responsible for checking it.”
Torraco repeatedly mentioned another unidentified crew member “touched” the gun, too.
Investigators say hundreds of rounds were recovered from the set including “a mix” of dummy — or harmless prop rounds — blanks, and live ammunition, which has no business being on a movie set, experts agree.
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