Alec Baldwin was told loaded prop gun was safe before fatal shooting

23 October 2021, 07:44 | Updated: 23 October 2021, 11:10

Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director Dave Halls were named in a search warrant. Picture: Alamy

By Asher McShane

The armourer and assistant director who handed a deadly prop gun to Alec Baldwin have been identified.

According to court documents, the gun was one of three that the film's armourer, Hannah Gutierrez, had set on a cart outside the wooden structure where a scene from western Rust was being acted out.

Assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Alec Baldwin while unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.

A warrant said that a single bullet hit Halyna Hutchins in the chest, and then struck director Joel Souza in the shoulder as he was standing behind her, injuring him.

Halyna Hutchins died from a single shot to the chest. Picture: Instagram

Halls handed Baldwin the loaded weapon and told him it was safe to use.

"Cold gun", the assistant director announced, before giving the gun to Baldwin, according to a search warrant filed in a Santa Fe, Arizona court.

But the gun was loaded with live rounds and when Baldwin pulled the trigger on Thursday, he killed cinematographer Halyna.

Director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her, was wounded, the records said.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office obtained the warrant so investigators could document the scene at the ranch outside Santa Fe where the shooting took place.

They sought Baldwin's blood-stained costume for the film Rust as evidence, as well as the weapon that was fired, other prop guns and ammunition, and any footage that might exist.

The movie, set in 1880's Kansas, stars Baldwin as the infamous outlaw Harland Rust, whose grandson is sentenced to hang for an accidental murder.

Baldwin has said "there are no words to convey my shock and sadness" following the death of cinematographer Ms Hutchins.

The actor, 63, confirmed he is "fully co-operating" with the police investigation after he fired the prop gun.

In a statement posted on his arts foundation's social media account, Baldwin described the event as a "tragedy" and said he is in communication with Hutchins' husband.

He said: "There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours."