Armorer convicted for accidental shooting death on set of Rust

A New Mexico jury on Wednesday found Hollywood armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter for her role in the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The jury declared Gutierrez-Reed not guilty on a second charge of evidence tampering. She now faces up to a year and a half in prison plus a $5,000 fine.

How was Hutchins shot? She was hit by a live round accidentally left in a Colt .45 revolver in October 2021, used by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the upcoming film Rust. Gutierrez-Reed oversaw props and was in charge of loading the gun with dummy rounds. Prosecutors accused her of bringing live rounds to the set. Crew members testified that Gutierrez-Reed’s work was routinely sloppy. Authorities found six total live rounds on set, which the armorer denied supplying. Her lawyers argued producers were overruling Gutierrez-Reed’s authority on set while attempting to cut costs, and overloaded her with extra prop responsibilities.

What about Balwin? Prosecutors also charged Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty and will go to trial in early July. He insists he was told there were no live rounds on the set, let alone in the prop gun. Baldwin said the gun was in his hand when it fired, but he didn’t pull the trigger. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists criticized prosecutors for charging Baldwin.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Sift about Hutchins and her accidental death.