Bullet that killed Baldwin movie set camerawoman
THE bullet fired by Alec Baldwin that killed a cinematographer on the set of his film Rust was shown to a jury last night.
Photos of the round which went through Halyna Hutchins, as well as her bloodied Tshirt, were shown at the trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 26, the movie’s armourer.
She is accused of involuntary manslaughter at a court in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the movie was being filmed in October 2021. She denies the allegations.
Baldwin shot dead Ms Hutchins, 42, while rehearsing a scene for the Western where he drew his gun. The bullet went through her and hit Rust director Joel Souza in the shoulder, but he survived. Baldwin, 65, will face trial at a later date for involuntary manslaughter, which he denies.
Marissa Poppell, a crime scene technician with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed to prosecutor Kari Morrissey that the photos in evidence included the picture of Ms Hutchins’s shirt. Ms Morrissey said it was ‘laid out completely’ after it was removed from the ambulance where Ms Hutchins had been treated. It shows a heavy blood stain on the right hand side and another one in the middle.
The jury was also shown two photos of Souza’s shirt, which had extensive blood stains on the shoulder where he was struck.
The photo of the bullet was displayed next to a measuring tape, which showed it was 2cm long.
Prosecutors have said GutierrezReed was ‘sloppy’ about safety checks and allowed a live round to get into Baldwin’s gun.
In total, police found six live rounds on the set, a number that prosecutors said was ‘incomprehensible’. Ms Poppell described to the jury the shambolic manner in which ammunition was stored.
She said there was a single loose round lying in a corner as well as ‘plastic guns, gun belts and miscellaneous paperwork’ scattered all over the place. In total, Ms Poppell said that she found 255 dummy rounds on the set of Rust, including in the prop cart, of which 50 were loosely stored.
Among the photos shown to the jury yesterday was a bandolier assigned to Baldwin. It showed five bullets in each section with one live round that looked very similar to the others. Another bandolier assigned to a different actor also had a live round in it, Ms Poppell said. One photo shown to the jury was of a bag holding boxes of ammunition with a can of Red Bull wedged into the side.
Gutierrez-Reed also stored loose bullets in a bum bag that had multiple pockets, the court heard.
Her lawyers have claimed during the trial that she is being made a ‘scapegoat’ for the failures of the film’s producers, which included Baldwin.
They said Baldwin ‘violated basic gun safety rules’ by pointing the gun at Ms Hutchins and opening fire. The actor claims he didn’t pull the trigger of the gun that shot Ms Hutchins, and that he only pulled the hammer back.
Both he and Gutierrez-Reed face up to 18 months in prison if found guilty. The trial continues.