Alec Baldwin shot: ‘Rust’ assistant director was not responsible for searching weapon, lawyer says
The Rust assistant director who handed Alec Baldwin the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins had no responsibility to verify if she was loaded, her attorney says.
David Halls acknowledged to police that he did not inspect the firearm to make sure all the bullets in the barrel were fake bullets before passing them to Baldwin seconds before the Oct. 21 set shot, according to an affidavit.
According to his attorney, Lisa Torraco, Halls was not required to search the weapon at all.
"That is not the job of the assistant director. If he chooses to check the firearm because he wants to make sure everyone is safe, he can do it, but that is not his responsibility," Torraco told Fox News. Monday.
"Waiting for an assistant director to check a firearm is like telling the assistant director to check the camera angle or telling the assistant director to check the sound or lighting."
Torraco's comments came hours after Halls broke his silence on the shooting to demand changes to the security of the film sets.
“Halyna Hutchins was not only one of the most talented people I have ever worked with, but also a friend. I am shocked and saddened by her death, ”she said in a statement obtained by the New York Post.
"I am hopeful that this tragedy prompts the industry to reevaluate its values and practices to ensure that no one is harmed again through the creative process."
Police identified Halls as one of four people who touched the firearm which Baldwin accidentally shot on set and killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.
Witnesses said the Halls yelled "gun ready" when he handed the gun to Baldwin, indicating that he had no actual ammunition. However, the affidavit filed in Santa Fe County Magistrates Court last week revealed that he did not recall whether he had searched the barrel of the gun.
He said that when Rust's gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, "showed her" the weapon Baldwin later used "before proceeding with the trial, she only remembered seeing three rounds," a detective wrote in the affidavit.
Halls "cautioned that he should have checked them all, but he didn't, and couldn't recall" whether Gutierrez-Reed "spun the barrel of the gun," the detective wrote.
When asked about safety procedures regarding weapons, Halls said: "I check the barrel for obstructions, most of the time there is no real ammunition."
He added that Gutierrez-Reed "opens the hatch and spins the barrel, and I say 'gun ready' on set."
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said during a press conference last week that the prop pistol was a .45 Long Colt with a usable round in the barrel. He said a "lead projectile" appeared to have pierced Hutchins before embedding itself in Souza's shoulder.
Investigators are still working to determine how the usable bullet ended up on set and who placed it in the firearm.
In a statement through her attorneys, Gutierrez-Reed suggested that Rust's producers, including Baldwin, are responsible for the "unsafe" set and claimed that their repeated requests for more training and safety meetings were ignored.
