Rust weapons supervisor found guilty over fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin film set
The Rust weapons supervisor has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter following the fatal shooting of the film’s cinematographer on set.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was found not guilty of evidence tampering.
Gutierrez-Reed, 26, was in charge of weapons during production of the Western film in New Mexico in October 2021, when a gun fired by star and co-producer Alec Baldwin went off during a rehearsal.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died following the incident, while director Joel Souza was injured.
Halyna Hutchins, pictured in 2017
Involuntary manslaughter means causing someone’s death due to negligence, without intending to.
Jurors sitting on Gutierrez-Reed’s trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, reached their verdict after hearing evidence in the 10-day trial from dozens of witnesses, including eyewitnesses, FBI evidence analysts and an ammunition supplier to Rust, as well as Mr Souza.
The filmmaker said the noise of the shooting was “deafening” and “felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my shoulder”.
During the trial, jurors were shown footage of Baldwin waving a gun before the fatal shooting.
What is happening with Baldwin’s case?
Gutierrez and Baldwin (below) pictured on set in the aftermath of the shooting. Pics: Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office/AP
Baldwin was originally charged in January 2023, more than a year after the shooting.
Those charges were dropped a few months later based on evidence the hammer of the revolver might have been modified, allowing it to fire without the trigger being pulled.
The star was then charged again in January this year, and earlier this month pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He faces his trial in July.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the gun’s hammer – but not the trigger – and the weapon fired.
The revolver that actor Alec Baldwin was holding on the set of Rust was shown during the trial. Pic: Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal/AP
Filming of Rust resumed last year in Montana – with Baldwin reprising his role as the main character – after an agreement made Ms Hutchins’ widower an executive producer.
Gutierrez-Reed’s defence lawyer Jason Bowles said his client was being used as a “scapegoat” during the trial.
He said: “We’re here because of a tragedy, there’s no doubt, there was a tragic occurrence on that movie.
“But let me tell you something you already know: just because there was a tragedy, it does not mean that a crime was committed.”
Assistant director ‘was negligent checking the gun’
David Halls was the assistant director for Rust. Pic: Gabriela Campos/Santa Fe New Mexican/AP
Assistant director David Halls, who last year entered a plea bargain for negligent use of a deadly weapon, receiving a six-month suspended sentence, gave evidence during Gutierrez-Reed’s trial.
He was emotional at times as he told the trial: “I was negligent checking the gun properly.”
Halls told the court how Gutierrez-Reed showed him the rounds in the reproduction Colt 45 revolver and that he recalled “seeing three to four what I believed to be dummy rounds”, which looked “very distinctive” and different from live rounds.
However, he said he did not remember Gutierrez-Reed “fully rotating” the gun cylinder to show him all six rounds.
Asked if he let the safety check pass, he said: “I did.”
Gutierrez-Reed then gave Baldwin the gun, he told the court.
His testimony also included an account of standing about a metre from Ms Hutchins when the single gunshot rang out. As she was on the ground, he asked if she was all right.
“She said, ‘I can’t feel my legs’,” he said.
Halls said he struggled to understand how a live round could have been fired. “The idea that it was a live round of ammunition that went off… it wasn’t computing,” he said.
Venezuela has accused Donald Trump of a “colonial threat” after he said the airspace “above and surrounding” the country should be considered closed “in its entirety”.
Mr Trump made the declaration amid growing tensions with President Maduro – and as the US continues attacking boats it claims are carrying drugs from Venezuela.
He wrote on Truth Social: “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
Air traffic above Venezuela on Saturday afternoon. Pic: FlightRadar24
Venezuela’s foreign affairs office called it a “colonial threat” and “illegal, and unjustified aggression”.
It accused the president of threatening “the sovereignty of the national airspace… and the full sovereignty of the Venezuelan state”.
President Trump’s words were part of a “permanent policy of aggression against our country” that breached international law and the UN Charter, it added.
The Pentagon and the White House have so far not given any additional detail on the president’s statement.
Mr Trump’s post comes after the American aviation regulator last week warned of a “potentially hazardous situation” over Venezuela due to a “worsening security situation”.
Nicolas Maduro is widely considered a dictator by the West. Pic: Reuters
The South American nation revoked operating rights for six major airlines that went on to suspend flights to the country.
Mr Trump warned a few days ago that land operations against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers would begin “very soon”.
Such a move would be a major escalation in Operation Southern Spear – the US naval deployment in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific that’s so far attacked at least 21 vessels.
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Three killed as US strikes another alleged drug boat
Venezuela has said the attacks, which have killed more than 80 people, amount to murder.
The US has released videos of boats being targeted, but hasn’t provided evidence – such as photos of their cargo – to support the smuggling claims.
Read more:
Trump may have another motive in war on drugs
The US-Venezuela crisis explained
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Venezuela claims Trump creating ‘fables’ to justify ‘war’
The Pentagon has sought to justify the strikes by labelling the drug gangs as “foreign terrorist organisations” – putting them on par with the likes of al Qaeda.
It claims the boats targeted are carrying drugs bound for the US, although Sky’s chief correspondent says the final destination is likely to be Europe and West Africa.
President Maduro has denied Mr Trump’s claims he is involved in the drugs trade himself and said his counterpart wants to oust him so he can install a more sympathetic government.
Venezuelan officials have also claimed Mr Trump’s true motivation is access to the country’s plentiful oil reserves.
Mr Maduro is widely considered a dictator who’s cheated elections and has been president since 2013.
Donald Trump has said he will cancel all executive orders that he claims were signed with an autopen by his predecessor Joe Biden.
The US president alleged Mr Biden was “not involved” in signing the orders and claimed “the radical left lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the presidency away from him”. He did not provide any evidence for his claims.
An autopen is a device which reproduces a person’s signature, allowing them to repeatedly sign documents without having to do so by hand each time.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said: “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect.
“The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States.”
He added: “I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally.
“Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury.”
Read more from Sky News:
Trump: Land ops against Venezuela starting ‘very soon’
US to review immigration from 19 countries after shooting
Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed Mr Biden was not mentally capable by the end of his term and his staff made decisions on his behalf, using an autopen to sign them off without his knowledge.
Mr Trump has not provided any evidence for his claims, while Mr Biden and his former aides have denied they made decisions on his behalf.
In June, Mr Biden said: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency.
“I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
Mr Trump has also used an autopen, but claimed he only used it “for very unimportant papers”.
Pic: Reuters
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Trump trolls Biden with new ‘presidential portrait’
Earlier this year, Mr Trump replaced a portrait of Mr Biden in the Oval Office with a picture of an autopen signing the former president’s name.
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