Lawyers for the armorer who was in charge of prop weapons when a cinematographer was fatally shot on the set of “Rust” have claimed that Hannah Gutierrez Reed is being “framed” as responsible for the tragedy.
On October 21, Alec Baldwin was preparing for a scene on the Santa Fe set of the movie production when a prop gun he was handling accidentally discharged, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring the film’s director, Joel Souza. Baldwin had reportedly been told, mistakenly, that the gun was “cold,” meaning it did not have any live rounds. The investigation into how and why there was live ammunition in the prop weapon is ongoing, and authorities have not filed any criminal charges.
Fox News obtained a new statement from Gutierrez Reed’s attorney Jason Bowles, in which he appeared to strongly reinforce earlier statements that the set was “sabotaged” and that the rookie armorer was unfairly being blamed for the fatal error.
“We are convinced that this was sabotage and Hannah is being framed,” Bowles said in the statement. “We believe that the scene was tampered with as well before the police arrived. The truth finding process demands that the District Attorney and FBI run down all of the evidence, including the nature of those live rounds.”
The attorney said he “offered to share additional, critical information” with local authorities investigating the incident, but did not disclose the nature of this information. The attorney said he is waiting to hear back from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
Bowles told Fox News that Gutierrez Reed’s legal team is “asking for a full and complete investigation of all of the facts, including the live rounds themselves, how they ended up in the ‘dummies’ box, and who put them in there.”
Earlier, Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies reportedly appeared on “Good Morning America” and challenged the claims of sabotage.
“I know that some defense attorneys have come up with conspiracy theories and have used the word ‘sabotage.’ We do not have any proof,” Carmack-Altwies said.
The investigation remains active. CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.
[Feature image: ‘Rust’ film set on October 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)]
