Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. Voices of the West/Facebook
Attorneys for the "Rust” armorer claim that someone might have attempted to "sabotage the set by placing live ammunition in a box of fake rounds.
The comments were made by Robert Gorence and Jason Bowles, the lawyers for Hannah Gutierrez–Reed on "Today".
Alec Baldwin used a prop gun to shoot a cinematographer on set of the movie "The Last Month" last month.
Attorney's for the novice armourer on the set of "Rust", where Alec Baldwin killed a cinematographer using a prop gun, suggested Wednesday that someone might have switched out a dummy bullet with a live one to "sabotage" production.
Jason Bowles, Robert Gorence, and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the lawyer for Hannah Gutierrez, were speculative during an interview with NBC's Today. They did not provide any evidence.
Savannah Guthrie asked Bowles if Gutierrez-Reed had loaded a round into the FD Pietta Colt.45 revolver that Baldwin used to fire on the New Mexico set last October, killing Halyna Hutchins as a cinematographer and injuring Joel Souza. Bowles replied that they didn't know.
"There was a box with dummy rounds, and the box is marked dummy." Bowles stated that Hannah took from the box of dummy rounds, which she should have been able rely on." She also said that it contained only dummy rounds.
Bowles stated that Gutierrez-Reed loaded his revolver with ammunition "from that box", but later discovered that live ammunition was inside the weapon. He claimed that he didn't know and had "inspected" the rounds.
Bowles stated, "We don't know if that live round came out of that box." We assume it did. "We're assuming that somebody put the live rounds in that box. If you think about it, that person had to be attempting to sabotage this set.
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Robert Gorence, Jason Bowles and Hannah Gutierrez–Reed's attorneys, are the attorneys for "Rust". TODAY
Bowles stated, "There is no other reason that you would do it - that you would mix the live round in with dummy rounds."
Guthrie asked Bowles if that was their theory. Bowles replied, "We don’t have a theory yet." We are still investigating, but Bowles said that it was one possibility.
Bowles stated that he believes that someone would attempt to sabotage the set to prove a point. He pointed out reports that crew members had protested working conditions and had left the movie set hours prior to the October 21 fatal shooting incident.
Bowles stated, "We know that people walked off the set on the previous day." "And they are unhappy."
The attorney said, "We know two facts." "We know that there was a live round inside a box of dummy shots that shouldn't be there."
Bowles suggested that protests and walkouts by disgruntled workers who were unhappy about working conditions on set could be a motive.
Bowles stated that there was a time period between 11 [a.m.] to 1 [p.m.], roughly, on the day in which firearms at times were not attended, so there was an opportunity for tampering with this scene."
Bowles continued, "I don't think you can rule anyone out at this stage."
Police are still investigating the incident. Authorities aren't saying if the incident involved sabotage.
According to an affidavit released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office the prop gun Baldwin used was "set-up" by GutierrezReed, and then handed to Dave Halls, assistant director.
Baldwin was handed the gun by Halls in a Bonanza Creek Ranch setting. He shouted "cold gun" and indicated that the gun did not have any live rounds prior to the incident, according to the documents.
Another affidavit states that Halls admitted to investigators that he didn't check all rounds in the revolver barrel before he gave it to Baldwin.
According to the documents, Gutierrez-Reed stated that he advised that he should have checked them all, but didn’t and couldn’t remember if GutierrezReed “spun the drum” of the gun.
Bowles stated during Wednesday's interview that GutierrezReed "did spin" the gun for Halls.
Bowles stated that she showed Bowles every round in the chamber, which had six. She believed that six dummy rounds were in her handgun. He was able to see it all after she spun it. Hall."
Guthrie asked Bowles whether Gutierrez Reed should have known that there was a live round in her gun barrel as she spun the drum. Bowles replied that the dummy rounds "mimic" and "look like a real round."
"On that scene on that set, Hannah spun it for Mr. Halls took the weapon, and then he went into church to give it to Baldwin," Bowles said.
Insider has the original article.
