How ‘Rust’ shooting that saw Alec Baldwin shoot crew member dead rocked Hollywood as Hannah Gutierrez-Reed trial begins

RUST film armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s trial begins today – two years after the movie’s cinematographer was fatally shot on set.

Halyna Hutchins, 42, died on the film set in New Mexico in October 2021 after a prop gun held by actor Alec Baldwin fired a live round of ammunition during a rehearsal.

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Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s trial begins today – she is charged with the involuntary manslaughter of Halyna Hutchins and tampering with evidence[/caption]

Halyna Hutchins died was shot at point-black range on the film set of RustGetty Images - Getty

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Rust’s lead actor, Alec Baldwin, has also been charged with manslaughter[/caption]

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Police bodycam footage on the film set in Sante Fe after the fatal shooting[/caption]

Gutierrez-Reed, 25, has pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence in an ongoing case that has rocked Hollywood to its core.

She claims she mistakenly loaded a live round into a .45 revolver that the film’s lead actor Baldwin, 65, was rehearsing with.

Hutchins was killed when the prop gun went off at point-blank range at the Bonanza Creek Ranch film set in Sante Fe.

Rust’s director, Joel Souza, was also hit and injured in the shooting.

The highly-anticipated trial is expected to last until December 15.

Gutierrez-Reed tried to get the case thrown out, but a judge ruled last week that it could proceed.

Baldwin was re-charged with involuntary manslaughter in January, despite having two previous charges dropped last April after investigators said new evidence had come to light.

The Mission Impossible star was charged against last month after prosecutors in New Mexico said “additional facts” had emerged following forensic tests on the gun used in the shooting.

On January 31, he entered a not guilty plea to the new charges. No date has been scheduled for his trial.

Baldwin, who was also a producer on Rust, is facing a prison sentence of 18 months to three years if found guilty.

The father-of-seven previously said he only pulled back the hammer of the gun and denied pulling the trigger that caused the gun to fire.

But his claims will be called into question at his trial.

He also has argued he is not at fault because he had no knowledge that the weapon contained live rounds as no live ammunition was supposed to be on set.

Baldwin called Hutchin’s death an “accident” and a “one-in-a-trillion episode” on set.

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Gutierrez-Reed speaks with a sheriff’s deputy as a colleague stands next to her on the set of Rust straight after the shooting[/caption]

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Prosecutors have alleged that the movie armourer was taking drugs during production[/caption]

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Alec Baldwin is interviewed by detectives in 2021 – his manslaughter trial has no date set[/caption]

The live rounds

As the movie’s armourer, Gutierrez-Reed was in charge of firearms.

Investigators found six live rounds on set, including some in a box of dummy ammunition.

Prosecutor Kari Morrissey has argued that Gutierrez-Reed brought “live rounds on to a movie set”.

“She failed to discover them for 12 days,” Morrisey claimed. “She loaded one of them into a gun. It was then manipulated by an actor and very foreseeably someone died.”

The armourer was first charged with manslaughter early last year, but charges of evidence tampering were added when she allegedly refused to provide information regarding the live rounds.

Prosecutors also allege that armourer Gutierrez-Reed had passed drugs to someone on the day of the shooting to avoid being arrested herself.

Jurors will also be hearing evidence from text messages that suggest the armourer was drinking alcohol as well as taking drugs the night before the fatal shooting.

Gutierrez-Reed’s phone also allegedly contains text messages that suggest she was smoking cannabis at her hotel during production, The Guardian reports.

One text to a crew member reportedly reads: “I might go smoke in the jacuzzi soon.” Another said: “Headed down to get high out back.”

The state reportedly intends to use the texts to attempt to prove she was negligent in her role on the set of Rust.

Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers have accused the prosecutors of attempting to assassinate her character with “rumours and improper comments on her guilt”.

They declared that she is being used as a “scapegoat” for the shooting.

Last year, David Hall, Rust’s first assistant director, pleaded guilty to unsafe handling of a firearm when he handed Baldwin the loaded revolver.

He was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation.

‘Terrible tragedy’

Hutchins’ widower, Matthew, filed a wrongful death lawsuit after the shooting but settled in October 2022 with Rust’s producers, including Baldwin.

“I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame (to the producers or Mr. Baldwin),” he said after the settlement.

“All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident. I am grateful that the producers and the entertainment community have come together to pay tribute to Halyna’s final work.”

Matthew Hutchins took on an executive producer role on the film as a tribute to his late wife.

The filming for Rust was completed, with additional filming in Montana, and is waiting to be distributed.

In May 2023 as filming officially wrapped, Baldwin said: “It’s been a long and difficult road.

“But we reach the end of the trail today. Congratulations to Joel [Souza], Bianca and the entire cast and crew. Nothing less than a miracle.”

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Wrapping on the film has now finally be wrapped[/caption]

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Baldwin has claimed he did not pull the trigger of the gun that fatally shoot Hutchins[/caption]

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The A-lister described the end of filming Rust as a ‘long and difficult road’[/caption]