Alec Baldwin Toyed with Real Guns, Used as a 'Pointing Stick' Per Witnesses in Armorer Trial
Alec Baldwin Toyed with Real Guns, Used as a 'Pointing Stick' Per Witnesses in Armorer Trial
Plus: ‘Rust’ Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed gave Baldwin the gun directly, per assistant director
The first full week of the trial involving the armorer for the Alec Baldwin "Rust" shooting has uncovered startling revelations. While it was already known that Baldwin didn't adhere to gun safety rules, new videos now showcase instances in which he endangered the cast and crew multiple times before the tragic shooting of Halyna Hutchins.
It has also emerged that the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, might have directly handed the gun to Baldwin rather than passing it to the assistant director. Furthermore, Hutchins's initial words after being shot are now public knowledge: "I can't feel my legs."
As the trial unfolds, it becomes increasingly evident that the entire incident was both preventable and horrific.
Right away! Right away! Let’s reload. - Baldwin
**Click here to read all my reporting about this case since Oct. 2021.**
Guiterrez-Reed faces involuntary manslaughter charges and up to 18 months in jail. She has pled not guilty to all the charges.
Baldwin’s trial on similar charges will be in June. Most or all of the same witnesses will testify in both trials about the Oct. 21, 2021 shooting.
He’s using the weapon as a pointing stick. - expert armorer
Baldwin’s Reckless Gun Handling
Special Prosecutor Kerri Morrissey showed the jury videos on Thursday of Baldwin waving around a loaded gun, pointing it at the camera crew and demanding it be reloaded faster.
In one video of a rehearsal, Baldwin rapidly fires blanks from a revolver. The director yells “cut.” But Baldwin didn’t stop shooting the dangerous blanks. Instead, he yelled at the crew, “One more, one more, one more!”
The crew still wasn't moving fast enough for Baldwin. He yelled “Right away! Right away! Let’s reload. Here we go, c’mon!”
I cued you CourtTV to watch the video of Baldwin yelling here.
You see Gutierrez-Reed quickly reloaded Baldwin’s gun. As she worked, Baldwin yelled at her to hurry. Anyone who has shot a gun knows that you must be cautious, and meticulous and always abide by the safety rules. There didn’t appear to be the normal safety check of the ammunition in the rush to reload.
Baldwin also demanded that there be more loaded guns on set so he could shoot even faster. “Here we go, C’mon,” he said. “We should have had two guns and both reloaded.”
I cued up the video on YouTube here of Baldwin yelling at his armorer to load more guns.
Baldwin Was Reckless for Hollywood Standards
Morrissey asks the state’s witness— expert armorer Bryan Carpenter— if Baldwin’s behavior was typical on a movie set. Carpenter says no because Baldwin was basically instructing the armorer how to do her job.
She said, “I can't feel my legs.”
Carpenter said if he had been the armorer in the same situation, he would have told Baldwin to stop shooting when the director yelled cut and slow way down overall. He said he would have ordered the actor to abide by the gun safety rules- given in regular safety meetings on set— in particular not pointing a gun at the cast and crew.
It also came out in the trial that Baldwin demanded to use real guns in “blocking” and rehearsal scenes when rubber guns would have sufficed.
Carpenter also pointed out that Baldwin was shooting almost directly at his crew and the camera. He said that should never happen with a gun loaded with fully loaded blanks. The actor should point as far as four feet away from the camera.
The expert armorer also said that on the sets of his movies, the camera crews often wear protective gear when doing scenes with fully loaded blanks, not even anticipating real ammunition.
Another video shows (cued up here on CourtTV) that Baldwin yelled at the cast and crew while waving a gun around at them.
Here we go, c’mon. We should have had two guns and both reloaded.- Baldwin
Carpenter said “He’s using the weapon as a pointing stick.” He said the gun was likely loaded with full flash blanks, and that it was dangerous behavior.
Cost Cutting Production
Morrissey then asked Carpenter what Gutierrez-Reed should have done about Baldwin’s actions. He said she should have “interceded” and told Baldwin to have muzzle discipline (not point the gun at people.)
Obviously, Gutierrez-Reed was only 24 years old and new to the business so didn’t have the authority to stand up to a famous movie star with a bad temper.
Carpenter also testified that the film should have had two armorers because of all the gun fights, while there was really only half of one on “Rust.”
Gutierrez-Reed was hired to do two jobs-- armorer and props assistant. She requested more time for her gun and ammo duties but was denied.
Baldwin was a producer of the cost-cutting film, which may come up in his trial scheduled for June.
Who Gave the Gun to Baldwin?
The confusion regarding who gave the gun to Baldwin adds a layer of complexity to the trial. First Assistant Director Dave Halls, responsible for safety on set, surprised court watchers by stating he did not give the gun to Baldwin and never called out "cold gun."
Halls pled no contest for negligent use of a firearm for his role in the Hutchins’s death and got six months suspended probation.
I did let that safety check pass. - Dave Halls
Defense attorney Jason Bowles asked Halls if he was aware that Baldwin originally told sheriff deputies that Gutierrez-Reed gave him the gun. Asked when Baldwin changed his story to the sheriff, Halls said it came months later after Gutierrez-Reed said she gave Baldwin the gun.
There’s of course a fog of war with this shooting but it was quite surprising that the basic chain of custody of the gun has changed and is still not solved.
Safety Check Oversight
During testimony, Halls admitted to seeing Gutierrez-Reed spin the loaded revolver's cylinder during a safety check but said he only looked at “three to four rounds” of the six. Halls testified, “I did let that safety check pass.”
(It’s still unclear why it was loaded for the blocking scene.)
The idea that it was a live round of ammunition that went off-- it wasn't computing
For whatever reason, neither side in the case asked why Baldwin didn’t do a safety check with his crew when he took the gun.
Halls Breaks Down in Court
When asked what happened before the shooting, Halls started crying. He said Baldwin continually took the loaded gun in and out of the holster on his right side and pointed it while talking to Hutchins.
Morrissey asked, “And then what happened?”
“The gun went off,” said Halls.
“What did you think happened?”
Halls started crying more.
“So many thoughts. The idea that it was a live round of ammunition that went off-- it wasn't computing,” said Halls. “My thought was a blank round had been loaded. There have been other instances when an actor was killed from a blank round. I thought maybe there was something in the blank.... “
Morrissey asked if Halls talked to Hutchins after she was shot because he was only about three feet away. He said he went to her.
“I said, “Are you all right?” Halls recalled, choked by tears. “She said, ‘I can't feel my legs.’”
The bullet entered her chest and went through her body. It then hit the director, Joel Souza, who screamed out in agony.
Souza testified on Friday that he couldn’t believe he was hit with real ammunition on a movie set until the hospital doctors finally showed him the bullet in his back.
Devastating.
The live round
Halls then got the revolver from where Baldwin had left in the pews to go outside and make phone calls. He took the gun to Gutierrez-Reed’s cart outside and demanded she unload it… (Continued below for paid subscribers.)
Do you want an audio version of this and my other posts? Take the one question survey here: