Filming halted on Alec Baldwin Rust movie after ‘inexperienced 24-year-old gave gun to child on set’

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The young armorer who was responsible for the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Alec Baldwin new film Rust has been careless with weapons in the past, sources allege.

A source who worked alongside Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, on an previous film set said she has a history of recklessness around guns.  

‘She was a bit careless with the guns, waving it around every now and again,’ the source told The Daily Beast. ‘There were a couple times she was loading the blanks and doing it in a fashion that we thought was unsafe.’

Another source accused Gutierrez-Reed of loading a weapon on the pebble-filled ground and handing it to child actress, 11, without conducting a proper inspection. 

‘She was reloading the gun on the ground, where there were pebbles and stuff. We didn’t see her check it, we didn’t know if something got in the barrel or not,’ a source who worked with her set of the upcoming Nicolas Cage film, The Old Way, said.

The individual noted that the crew waited to film until Gutierrez-Reed had double checked the barrel for obstruction.  

A fellow Rust crew member referred to Gutierrez-Reed as being ‘inexperienced and green,’ alleging that there had been at least two incidents of guns being discharged on set before Thursday’s fatal accident.    

Rust crew members claim there were several complaints made against the armorer on the set and that at least six ‘fed-up’ people had walked off the set prior to Gutierrez-Reed handing Baldwin the gun that killed Hutchins. 

The crew made their complaints directly to assistant director Dave Hall – who is named in the search warrant affidavit as the person handed Baldwin the gun that killed Hutchins and told him it was safe – and demanded all the discharges were documented. 

‘All of us yelled at him, ‘That better be on the production report, these guys are irresponsible and shouldn’t be here,’ a production source said.

‘That should be automatic grounds for termination on a union film set, you should be gone. The first time that gun went off without telling anybody, that whole department should have been replaced, immediately. Clearly production thought better of it, decided to roll the dice and pay the ultimate price.’

A search warrant released Friday said that Gutierrez-Reed laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location, and first assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Alec Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds. 

‘Cold gun!’ shouted Halls before handing the gun to Baldwin, using the phrase to signal to cast and crew that the gun was safe to fire for the scene, the warrant said. 

Seconds later, filming a scene inside an Old West-style church, Baldwin apparently aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, accidentally killing Halyna Hutchins as she filmed him, and injuring director Joel Souza, who stood behind her.  

Sources on the Rust set have said the fatal incident that killed Hutchins, 42, and injured Souza, 48, was a result of production failings from top to bottom. 

They added that assistant director Halls, who handed the gun to Baldwin and told him it was safe, should have checked the weapon. 

‘He’s supposed to be our last line of defense and he failed us,’ one of the sources on set said. ‘He’s the last person that’s supposed to look at that firearm.’

A Rust production source told The Daily Beast that there were at least two previous incidents of guns being accidentally discharged by other crewmember on set before Thursday’s tragic incident. 

The source described Gutierrez-Reed as ‘inexperienced and green.’ 

Gutierrez-Reed had previously admitted she wasn’t sure she was ready for the job on The Old Way in an interview before filming started.

‘I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly,’ Gutierrez-Reed said in a podcast interview last month after leading the firearms department for The Old Way, starring Nicolas Cage – her first time as head armorer.

She also admitted in the podcast interview she found loading blanks into a gun ‘the scariest’ thing because she did not know how to do it and had sought help from her father, legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, to get over the fear.

It comes as the film crew revealed they walked off set hours before the fatal accident over safety fears after firearms were accidentally discharged three times – including once by Baldwin’s stunt double who had been told the gun was not loaded, and twice in a closed cabin.

Neither Halls nor Gutierrez-Reed immediately returned messages from DailyMail.com late on Friday. Neither has been charged or named as a criminal suspect in the case, though a police investigation is ongoing.

The gun that fired the fatal shot was a vintage-style Colt revolver, DailyMail.com has exclusively learned.

After the shooting, the armorer took possession of the gun and a spent casing, which were turned over to police, along with other prop guns and ammunition used on the set.

Baldwin also changed out of the Western costume he was wearing, which was stained with blood, and turned it over to police.

The warrant does not reveal the model or caliber of the prop gun that fired the fatal bullet, but the film is set in the Old West of the 1880s and DailyMail.com has learned it was a Colt.

The warrant was obtained Friday so that investigators could document the scene at the ranch where the shooting took place.

Unionized workers had walked off the set hours before the fatal shooting, after they complained about long hours, shoddy conditions and another safety incident days earlier involving ‘two misfires’ of a prop weapon.

A yet-unnamed prop master who oversaw the gun used in the fatal shooting was a non-union worker who was ‘just brought in’ to replace the workers who left over safety concerns, a source involved in the movie told the New York Post.

It’s unclear whether Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, had recently joined the production, or was one of the crew members who stayed behind after the walk-off.

However, a link in her Instagram bio points to an article about Rust from May, suggesting she had been attached to the production for some time.

Unionized employees had been complaining about the fact they had to stay overnight in Albuquerque – an hour’s drive from the set – and not Sante Fe because production wouldn’t pay for their hotels, according to sources cited by The Los Angeles Times and multiple social media posts by film and TV insiders.

When they turned up to set to clear their things on Thursday, they found they’d been replaced by locals.

It begs the question of who those local workers were, what their training was and to what extent did they check the weapon before it was handed to Baldwin.

Deadline also cites an unnamed source who said a gun had gone off ‘in a cabin’ while someone was holding it, days prior to the shooting that killed Hutchins.

‘A gun had two misfires in a closed cabin. They just fired loud pops – a person was just holding it in their hands and it went off,’ they said, apparently referring to unintentional discharges.

Rust Production LLC did not respond to repeated requests for comment from DailyMail.com on Friday about the incident, but members of the union that represents many of the crew who were involved in the production said they had expressed fears about on-set safety.

Baldwin first addressed the tragedy on Twitter Friday: ‘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. I’m fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.’

He then tweeted a Variety article titled Alec Baldwin Was Told Prop Gun Was Safe Before Fatal Shooting, Affidavit Says.

He was pictured doubled over in grief on Thursday after speaking to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department immediately following the shooting.

Hutchins’ husband shared a touching tribute to his wife on Twitter on Friday. Matthew Hutchins tweeted a photo of his wife and their 9-year-old son Andros on Friday captioned: ‘Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words.

‘Our loss is enormous, and we ask that the media please respect my family’s privacy as we process our grief. We thank everyone for sharing images and stories of her life.’

His Facebook profile picture is a photo of the couple who had been married for 16 years. His bio now reads: ‘We miss you, Halyna.’

A private memorial was held in Santa Fe last night with Matthew, Andros, and Baldwin in attendance, according to ShowBiz411. It was reported that grief counselors were present at the service.

The grieving husband told DailyMail.com on Friday morning that he had spoken with the actor. ‘I have spoken with Alec Baldwin and he is being very supportive,’ he said.

Zak Knight, a pyrotechnic and special effects engineer who is a member of Local 44, told DailyMail.com on Friday: ‘There should have never been live rounds on a movie set, that’s number one. Number two is every single person on a movie set has a right to inspect a weapon before it’s fired. And number three is, there is no reason to ever put a person in front of a weapon that’s firing.

‘Anytime you see a movie where the barrel is pointed down the camera lens, there should not be an operator behind it. It’s obvious that the considerations of this resulted in that gun being pointed directly at two people.

‘We would have additionally had a barrier between them. A large number of people failed to do our protocols… every accident is a cascade of events,’ he said.

Whatever happened in the moments leading up to her death, Knight said it was caused by a ‘cascade of failures’ by multiple people. ‘We have a hard and fast rule that no live ammunition ever goes into a prop truck or set at any time. We just don’t do it.

‘If you see bullets on set they are complete dummy rounds and are in no way functional. This goes back to Brandon Lee. There’s protocol.’ Lee was killed in a similar incident when another actor shot him with a prop gun that was loaded with live ammunition while filming The Crow in 1993.

Knight added that different gun laws between New Mexico and California may have also contributed to the accident. In California, both a trained armorer and a prop master is required on a film set and those are the standards the union adheres to as well.

‘You will find the best and most well-trained individuals in Los Angeles. You can’t guarantee that as you go across the country,’ he told DailyMail.com on Friday.