The assistant director David Halls, who reportedly handed Alec Baldwin the gun that misfired and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on the Rust sets, finally broke his silence on the matter. Halls said he is “shocked and saddened,” but didn’t talk about reports claiming he handed the gun to Baldwin.
Halls said in a statement, “Halyna Hutchins was not just one of the most talented people I’ve worked with, but also a friend. I’m shocked and saddened by her death.”
He added, “It’s my hope that this tragedy prompts the industry to reevaluate its values and practices to ensure no one is harmed through the creative process again.” Adding that he’s ‘overwhelmed’ with the support, he said that his thoughts are with “all who knew and loved Halyna.”
Santa Fe authorities released search warrants which indicated that three people handled the gun before the tragic incident, namely David Halls, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, and then Baldwin. According to the Agence France-Presse, Gutierrez-Reed and Halls are responsible for checking the weapons on set.
Halls had reportedly announced that the gun was a “cold gun”, lingo for an inert firearm. The search warrant by the Sante Fe authorities stated that Halls told detectives he “should have checked” if all the rounds were inert but he didn’t.
According to the New York Post, the affidavit filed in the Santa Fe County Magistrate Court stated, “David advised when Hannah showed him the firearm before continuing rehearsal, he could only remember seeing three rounds. He advised he should have checked all of them, but didn’t, and couldn’t recall if she spun the drum.”
Alec Baldwin also gave his first public statement about the issue and said that he is in constant touch with Halyna Hutchins family. Baldwin called the incident an ‘one-in-a-trillion event’.
Talking about Hutchins’ husband, Baldwin said, “He is in shock, he has a 9-year-old son. We are in constant contact with him because we are very worried about his family and his kid. As I said, we are eagerly awaiting for the sheriff’s department to tell us what their investigation has yielded.”
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said that the incident indicates towards “some complacency on this set.”
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