Jurors in the manslaughter trial of Hannah Gutierrez say the ‘The Last’ armorer was questioned by law enforcement hours after cinematographer Halina Hutchins was shot and killed on the set of the Western film. I saw the video.
Gutierrez was questioned at the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office in New Mexico on October 21, 2021, and said he “should have done more research” about the Colt .45 revolver. trial in footage shown to jurors on Tuesday, the fourth day of the trial.
Actor Alec Baldwin was practicing cross-drawing in a church on set when a gun fired live ammunition, hitting Hutchins and director Joel Souza, causing non-life-threatening injuries.
Gutierrez told investigators he was “startled” by the shooting and checked all six rounds in the prop gun, which was fully functional.
“I’ll check the dummies,” she said. “I check them all. I can tell you they all showed no heat.”
Gutierrez told investigators he spent the morning loading dummies into his prop gun. After lunch, she was outside the church due to COVID-19 restrictions when she heard a single gunshot go off inside, she said.
When he went inside, he was “yelled at” and ran outside. When she checked her gun, she was missing one bullet, but “the rest was fine,” she said.
“One of the dummies somehow got discharged from the hospital,” she tells investigators in the video.
One of the investigators showed Gutierrez a photo of the projectile removed from Souza’s shoulder that an aide had emailed from the hospital.
“They believed at this point it could have been actual live ammunition,” the investigator told Gutierrez.
“Was it like a live round to you?” she asked the armorer.
Gutierrez initially responded, “It’s like an empty round,” but later said, “Maybe it’s a regular live round.”
“That’s what they were thinking. It could be live ammunition,” the investigator said.
“Oh my god—” Gutierrez responded.
Gutierrez claimed he checked the six bullets in the firearm for rattling, indicating they were dummy rounds.
“If I hadn’t heard the rattling noise, I wouldn’t have gotten in,” she says. “I checked all six pieces to make sure there was no looseness.”
Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office Corporal Alexandra Hancock testified on the stand Tuesday that one of the dummy bullets in the firearm had a hole in the side indicating it was a dummy.
“It wouldn’t have rattled. It goes against what she said if it hadn’t rattled, she wouldn’t have been able to get in,” Hancock said.
Hours before the shooting, several members of the camera department walked off the set to protest poor working conditions. Asked about that during an interview, Gutierrez said that while the set was “toxic,” no one thought it was “that malicious.”
“I think this was a really terrible accident,” she was seen saying on the video.
Asked where the ammunition in the set came from, Gutierrez told investigators that he received the box of dummies from Seth Kenney, owner of PDQ Arms and Props in Albuquerque.
During a second interview with the sheriff’s office in November 2021, Gutierrez “revealed” that he and another supplier also provided ammunition to the set, Hancock testified.
During an interview in November, part of which was shown to jurors before recess on Tuesday, Gutierrez brought in a “loose dummy” that had been in his car for two weeks from a previous movie set. he said.
Mr. Hancock testified that the ammunition from PDQ did not match any of the live ammunition found in the “Rust” set.
Gutierrez, 26, has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and tampering with evidence. Her prosecutors allege that after she was interviewed by law enforcement after the shooting, she handed over a small baggie containing cocaine. The defense argued there was no evidence there was cocaine in the bag and that during the trial she was charged with the crime “with intent to prejudice” the defendant.
Prosecutors claim the armorer did not always follow “required” safety procedures on set and unknowingly brought live ammunition onto the set.
Defense attorney Jason Bowles said in his opening statement last week that the production and the state made Gutierrez a “scapegoat” for the tragic shooting.
“Just because there was a tragedy doesn’t mean a crime happened,” he says.
He claimed that the production created a “confused scene” by giving Gutierrez prop work and taking away his job as lead armorer. She claims Baldwin mishandled the gun toward the crew and denies bringing live ammunition onto the set, but she said she had enough time to train her staff on firearms. He said it had not been given to him.
Baldwin is also charged with manslaughter in Hutchins’ death. He pleaded not guilty.
Earlier Tuesday, firearms expert Lucian Haag testified before the state that the hammer had to be fully cocked and the trigger pulled in order for the revolver to fire, and FBI firearms expert Bryce Ziegler on Monday. is consistent with the testimony of
Baldwin said he did not pull the trigger of the gun.
His trial is scheduled to begin in July.
Mr. Baldwin’s attorneys, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel, said after the indictment in January that they “look forward to their day in court.”