Fatal shooting on the film “Rust”: gunsmith sentenced to 18 months in prison

Two and a half years after the fatal shooting, she has now decided her fate. The gunsmith of the western “Rust”, produced by Alec Baldwin and on the set of which the director of photography was shot and killed, was sentenced to 18 months in prison – the maximum penalty she faced. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the gunman in the film, was found guilty of manslaughter in a New Mexico court.

It was she who loaded the revolver with which Alec Baldwin was rehearsing in October 2021, when filming turned into drama, on a ranch in this region of the southwestern United States. A live bullet killed cameraman Galina Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.

The film’s star and producer Alec Baldwin also faces manslaughter charges. He faces the same sentence as the gunsmith, but will be tried separately in July. The rare news shocked Hollywood and sparked calls to ban guns on film sets.

“Scapegoat”

During the gunsmith’s trial, the prosecution criticized her amateurism and inexperience. Prosecutor Kari Morrissey said his negligence led to “constant and endless security breaches” on the set. The gunsmith “left the weapon unattended at all times,” she continued, and did not check the safety of the ammunition, which violates film industry safety regulations.

Bullets hitting the target make a clicking sound, which is easily recognized by a professional when shaking the weapon. “If he does not check the dummy ammunition (…) to make sure that they are indeed blank bullets, (…) it will be a game of Russian roulette, which is played every time the actor carries a weapon,” the prosecutor criticized.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s defense, in contrast, portrayed her as a scapegoat for a production that neglected safety for financial reasons. According to her lawyer, Jason Bowles, the young woman could not have known that live ammunition had entered the set and believed that the producers only received blank bullets. She was also assigned other tasks that did not allow her to fully focus on her role as an armorer. “The responsibility lies with production, as in any organization. It all starts at the top,” he said.

Interrupted by tragedy, filming for Rust finally wrapped in northwest Montana with Hutchins’ widower Matthew as executive producer. At the end of 2022, he dropped a civil lawsuit he initiated against Alec Baldwin at the end of an agreement for an undisclosed amount.

For their part, the 66-year-old actor’s lawyers are currently trying to get his criminal trial thrown out by filing invalidity charges. Last week, the prosecution demanded his continued employment in a detailed response in which he faces serious charges, including putting constant “pressure” on a team that “regularly compromised safety” and that he “blatantly lied “, denying pulling the trigger of the gun.