Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armourer involved in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust has been found guilty of manslaughter. Actor and producer Alec Baldwin is also facing involuntary manslaughter charges.
After a two-hour deliberation on Wednesday following a two-week trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the court ruled that Gutierrez-Reed had displayed negligence and “repeatedly” failed to follow proper firearm safety on set which resulted in Hutchins’ death.
The 26-year-old’s legal team argued that Gutierrez-Reed was being used as a scapegoat. However, the prosecution showed “mountains of circumstantial evidence” that they believed showed that Gutierrez-Reed brought six live rounds of ammunition onto the set.
“This is not a case where Hannah Gutierrez-Reed made one mistake, and that one mistake was accidental — putting a live round into that gun,” prosecutor Kari Morrissey said, per ABC News USA.
“This case is about constant, neverending, safety failures that resulted in the death of a human being and nearly killed another.”
The prosecution also showed footage on the set of Gutierrez-Reed pointing guns at each other — including a minor — and at herself. Morrissey argued that Gutierrez-Reed did not check to see whether the ammunition loaded in the firearms were dummy rounds, and hence alleged that actors were playing an unknown game of “Russian roulette” each time they fired a gun.
Alec Baldwin, who accidentally shot Hutchins on set, will be facing trial for involuntary manslaughter on July 9, 2024. He is set to plead not guilty.
The 65-year-old was practising a cross-draw on set when the gun fired, fatally shooting Hutchins. He also shot director Joel Souza, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Following the incident, Baldwin made a statement via X, formerly known as Twitter.
According to ABC News USA, assistant director David Halls, who reportedly handed Baldwin the gun, pleaded no contest to a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to six months unsupervised probation after taking a plea deal.
