Rust armourer breaks silence on fatal shooting and blames producers for ‘unsafe’ set

Before the incident, camera operators had walked off the set to protest working conditions, according to the affidavit.

Baldwin, 63, serves as a co-producer of Rust, a Western film set in 1880s Kansas, and plays an outlaw grandfather of a 13-year-old boy convicted of an accidental killing. Production at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, located south of Santa Fe, has been halted.

Baldwin has called it a “tragic accident” and, like other cast and crew, is cooperating with police.

Police have secured 600 items of evidence, including three firearms and 500 rounds of ammunition — containing blanks, dummy rounds and what they suspect are live rounds.

“We’re going to determine how those got there, why they were there, because they shouldn’t have been there,” Mendoza said about what they believe to be additional live rounds found on set.

Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s statement in full:

First Hannah would like to extend her deepest and most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Halyna. She was an inspirational woman in film who Hannah looked up to. She also offers her thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery to Joel. Hannah is devastated and completely beside herself over the events that have transpired.

She would like to address some untruths that have been told to the media, which have falsely portrayed her and slandered her. 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. Hannah and the prop master gained control over the guns and she never witnessed anyone shoot live rounds with these guns and nor would she permit that. They were locked up every night and at lunch and there’s no way a single one of them was unaccounted for or being shot by crew members. Hannah still, to this day, has never had an accidental discharge. The first one on this set was the prop master and the second was a stunt man after Hannah informed him his gun was hot with blanks.

Hannah was hired on two positions on this film, which made it extremely difficult to focus on her job as an armourer. She fought for training, days to maintain weapons, and proper time to prepare for gunfire but ultimately was overruled by production and her department. The whole production set became unsafe due to various factors, including lack of safety meetings. This was not the fault of Hannah.

Hannah and her legal team will address more of these rumours and the whole incident in an upcoming statement next week.

Almost 40 years ago another gun tragedy occurred on set