Rust weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez jailed over fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin film set
The weapons supervisor for the film Rust has been jailed for 18 months following the fatal shooting of the film’s cinematographer on set.
Hannah Gutierrez, 26, was sentenced today after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by jurors in Santa Fe, New Mexico, following a trial.
She was in charge of weapons during the production of the western film in October 2021, when a Colt 45 revolver fired by actor and co-producer Alec Baldwin went off during a rehearsal.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died following the incident, while director Joel Souza was injured.
Jurors sitting on Gutierrez’s trial reached their verdict after a two-week trial during which they heard evidence from dozens of witnesses, including eyewitnesses, FBI evidence analysts and an ammunition supplier to Rust, as well as Mr Souza, during a 10-day trial.
A statement from Ms Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, was read aloud to the court during Gutierrez’s sentencing.
In it, she said her life had been split in two and that time didn’t heal, rather it only prolonged her pain and suffering.
“It’s the hardest thing to lose a child. There are no words to describe,” Ms Solovey, who is from Ukraine, said.
Halyna Hutchins. Pic: Shutterstock
‘You turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon’
Handing Gutierrez the maximum sentence, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said a conditional discharge was not appropriate and that leaving the weapons supervisor in a detention centre would “bring you a pass you do not deserve”.
“I did not hear you take responsibility in your allocution, you said you were sorry but not you were ‘sorry for what you did’. It was your attorney that had to tell the court you were remorseful,” the judge said.
“The term remorse, a deep regret coming from a sense of guilt for past wrongs, that’s not you.”
She said Gutierrez’s actions amounted to a “serious, violent offence” that was “committed in a physically violent manner”.
“You were the armourer, the one that stood between a safe weapon and a weapon that could kill someone. You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon,” the judge added.
“If not for you, Ms Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have his partner and a little boy would have his mother.”
Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set where it was prohibited and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.
They had urged the judge to impose an 18-month sentence and designate Gutierrez-Reed as a “serious violent offender” to limit her eligibility for a sentence reduction later.
But defence lawyers said the weapons supervisor will forever be affected negatively by intense publicity associated with her prosecution in parallel with an A-list actor, and has suffered from anxiety, fear and depression as a result.
After the verdict, her legal team had requested a new trial and asked for her to be released from prison.
What is happening with Baldwin’s case?
Alec Baldwin pictured on the set of Rust
Baldwin, 66, a producer for the film as well as its star, is also charged with involuntary manslaughter and faces a separate trial on 10 July. He has denied any wrongdoing.
His trial is being overseen by the same judge who sentenced Gutierrez-Reed.
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.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the gun’s hammer – but not the trigger – and the weapon fired.
His legal team has filed a motion calling for the charges to be dropped once again. Prosecutors responded to this last week, filing a 32-page document which claims that footage of the star on set shows he had “absolutely no control of his own emotions” and “no concern for how his conduct” affected those around him.
Assistant director David Halls, who also faced charges, entered a plea bargain for negligent use of a deadly weapon last year, receiving a six-month suspended sentence.
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.
US
The shock of a shooting will cut deeply – but if anywhere can find hope in the face of despair, Providence can
“Most of us live off hope” – the text of a colourful mural, painted on a wall on Hope Street, Providence.
On most days, the neighbourhood around Brown University feels like a place of quiet optimism, swimming against the negative tide.
Hope Street’s mural
The shock of a shooting, that has claimed two lives and left eight others critically wounded, will cut deeply here.
Violence feels not just intrusive but incompatible with the spirit of a place that is governed by thought, not threat.
When the university president said “this is a day we hoped would never come”, she spoke for the whole town.
Two students were killed in the attack
Providence, Rhode Island, is a place I know well. My daughter, her husband and their two little girls live there.
It is a college town with a college vibe, the compact campus priding itself on openness – architecturally, intellectually and emotionally.
They rehearse “shelter-in-place” scenarios, as every university does, but they are not experienced at living behind locked doors.
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‘Stay inside,’ mayor warns as suspect still at large
Rhode Island, the smallest state, has one of the lowest gun-death rates in America, zero mass shooting events in 2024.
Earlier this year, the state banned the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, but it didn’t include those already owned.
Even in a Democratic, liberal state like Rhode Island, they are struggling to find a solution to America’s gun problem.
People hug each other outside Brown University in Providence after the shooting. Pic: Reuters
The age-old constitutional right to bear arms continues to trump the most human of all rights – the right to life.
This is a community that assumes safety, not because it is naïve, but because it has grown accustomed to trust.
College Hill rises in gentle brick and ivy, its narrow streets winding past houses with verandas designed for long conversations.
They take place in hushed tones right now, but if anywhere can find its way out of despair, Providence can.
On the historic street along its east side and in the college on the corner, most people live off hope.
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