By: Anna Pham, Carlos Ruiz, Melina Saad, Raya Torres
February 28, 2024
LONG BEACH – On October 21, 2021, starring actor Alec Baldwin was rehearsing a scene for his new movie “Rust” that was set in New Mexico. The prop gun he was holding discharged a live round. Unknowing that there was real ammo in the gun, Baldwin shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in her chest and injured director Joel Souza in his shoulder. The production’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was responsible for handling the gun and ensuring that it was safe to use on set.
According to an article from ABC News, Matthew Hutchins and his 10 year old son, Andros Hutchins, both filed lawsuits towards the “Rust” film production company along with other individuals that were involved. This included both Baldwin and Gutierrez. The lawsuits were for criminal negligence and other safety violations on the set. A settlement was approved and signed but details of it have remained private. Matthew Hutchins became the new executive producer for the movie. Alongside this news, according to an ABC News article, court documents showed that Andros, his son, will be receiving his part of the settlement over time when he turns the ages 18 and 22.
According to an article by CBS News, both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed, were charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023. Prosecutors decided to drop the charges against Baldwin in April 2023, only to recharge him again the following year, on Jan. 19, 2024, with the same involuntary manslaughter charges. According to the Law and Crime Sidebar Podcast, Baldwin’s trial is set to begin sometime in July later this year. Both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed have pleaded not guilty to the charges they are being tried for. In the article by CBS News, Baldwin says “Someone is responsible for what happened and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me.”
As of today, Gutierrez-Reed is now being held on trial, the first day started on February, 22 and is currently on day four as of February, 27. This trial will confirm whether or not Gutierrez will be convicted of involuntary manslaughter. In the opening statement on the day of the trial, made by Jason Lewis, Gutierrez-Reed brought the prop gun that she loaded and handed it to assistant director David Halls. Halls then gave it to Baldwin to use during the rehearsal with failure to double-check the safety of the prop gun.
According to the Law and Crime Sidebar Podcast, prosecutors found evidence through text messages that suggest Gutierrez-Reed was doing drugs the night before the incident. She is also being charged with evidence tampering for allegedly getting another crew member to hide a bag of cocaine. However, according to CBS News Channel, prosecutors will have trouble proving Gutierrez-Reed’s impairment without a proper drug-screening.
The trial is ongoing and has been livestreamed on YouTube by Court TV. Day one of the trial revealed that there was a mix of live ammunition with the dummy ammo. The differences were pointed out in the opening statement of the trial by Jason Lewis that one of the bullet cartridges had a silver primer while the other ones had brass primers. Lewis said “the cartridge in that red box is a live bullet. So this is another live bullet that was found on the set, not just the one that was in Mr. Baldwin’s firearm.” Lewis also says, “Ultimately, you are going to hear from us that there were not just these two but a total of 6 live bullets that were found on the set.” Many commented on the live stream that Gutierrez was too young to be handling such a big job and agree that this was a huge unfortunate accident.
