The crew members on set as Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer – and what they said happened
As authorities continue to investigate the fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal film scene in New Mexico, questions are being raised about how the tragedy was able to occur on set.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed when Baldwin discharged a prop firearm on the set of the western movie Rust on Thursday. The film’s director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her, was shot in the shoulder.
It is unclear why the gun contained a projectile. Baldwin, best known for films and TV shows including The Departed and 30 Rock, and for portraying Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has described Hutchins’ death as “a tragic accident”.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed in the shooting. Pic: Swen Studios/ Reuters
No one has been charged in relation to the incident, which happened at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe. Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies has said prosecutors are reviewing evidence, while New Mexico workplace safety investigators are examining if film industry standards for gun safety were followed during production.
Several media and social media reports have raised concerns about safety protocols on what was a low-budget movie set.
Here is what we know about crew members on set and what witnesses have told authorities.
Armourer
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was the armourer on the set of Rust. File pic: Shutterstock
The person in charge of weapons on set is known as an armourer. The armourer for Rust, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, had set up the gun and two others, according to an affidavit from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
The weapons were set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, court records say.
After the shooting, she removed a shell casing from the gun and turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, according to the court records.
Before taking up the role of armourer on a previous film, Ms Gutierrez-Reed reportedly said she wasn’t sure if she was ready for the position.
Speaking in an interview after completing a role as head armourer for the Nicolas Cage film The Old Way, Ms Gutierrez-Reed said: “‘I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly.”
She is also said to have admitted she found loading blanks into a gun “the scariest” thing and had sought help from her father, the renowned gunsmith Thell Reed, to overcome her fear.
Assistant director
It was the film’s assistant director Dave Halls who grabbed the gun from the cart and took it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in a search warrant application for the film set.
He shouted “cold gun” – an industry term meaning a weapon is not loaded with ammunition, indicating that it was safe to use – before handing the firearm over, the search warrant states.
His film credits, according to IMDB, include The Matrix Reloaded, Bad Santa and The Crow: Salvation, a sequel to The Crow – which saw star Brandon Lee killed on set in a similar firearms incident in the 1990s.
Director
Writer and director Joel Souza was shot in the incident but was later discharged from hospital. Pic: Ron Adar/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Rust director Joel Souza was standing behind Ms Hutchins and was shot in the shoulder during the incident. He was taken to hospital but later discharged.
At the time of the incident, Souza said he was focused on how the scene would appear on camera and that he recalled hearing the phrase “cold gun” being used, according to the affidavit.
He said the scene they were shooting did not call for the use of live rounds.
Cameraman
Camera operator Reid Russell gave a statement to detectives, telling them that Baldwin had been careful with weapons on set.
Mr Russell said the actor was rehearsing a scene in which he was set to draw his gun while sitting in a church pew and point it at the camera when the fatal shooting occurred.
He said he was unsure whether the weapon was checked before it was handed to Baldwin but that the camera was not rolling when the gun went off, according to the search warrant affidavit.
When asked about how Baldwin treated firearms on the set, Russell said the actor was very careful, giving details of an instance when Baldwin made sure a child actor was not near him when a gun was being discharged.
Speaking to detectives about the time on set leading up to the shooting, Russell said several members of the camera crew had walked off the production in a dispute over payment and lodging, and he was left with a lot of work to do.
Electrician/lighting professional
A vigil for Ms Hutchins was held over the weekend
The film’s chief electrician Serge Svetnoy blamed producers for Ms Hutchins’ death in an emotional Facebook message posted on Sunday.
Mr Svetnoy said he had worked with Hutchins on multiple films and faulted “negligence and unprofessionalism” among those handling weapons on the set.
He also said that producers hired an inexperienced armourer.
Script supervisor
The film’s script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, said she was standing next to Hutchins when she was shot.
Following the shooting, she quickly called emergency services, and details of the call were later released.
“I ran out and called 911 and said ‘Bring everybody, send everybody’,” Mitchell told The Associated Press. “This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.”
In the 911 call, Ms Mitchell is calm but clearly in a state of distress; background noises suggest people raced to get help for the two people who had been injured while the call was being made.
Asked by the operator if the gun was loaded with a real bullet, she replied: “I don’t, I cannot tell you that… we have two injuries from a movie gunshot.”
Unnamed crew members
A report in The Los Angeles Times, citing two crew members who were not named, said that five days before the shooting, Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun did not have any ammunition.
A crew member who was alarmed by the misfires told a unit production manager in a text message, “We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe”, according to a copy of the message reviewed by the newspaper.
The New York Times, citing three former crew members, also reported that there were at least two earlier accidental gun discharges.
Rust Movie Productions said in a statement on Friday that it had not been aware of any safety concerns but was investigating claims of previous incidents.
“Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down,” it said.
Donald Trump has said his second state visit to the UK could take place in September.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer handed over an invitation from the King when he visited Washington in February.
Trump teases return to UK – latest updates
Buckingham Palace previously only said the visit would happen “when diaries allow”, but Mr Trump told reporters on Thursday: “I think they are setting a date for September.”
“I don’t know how it can be bigger than the last one,” he said.
“The last one was incredible, but they say the next one will be even more important.”
Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump the invite earlier this year. Pic: PA
Mr Trump will become the only elected political leader in modern times to be invited to two state visits by a British monarch.
The president called the UK a “great country” in his comments at the White House on Thursday and said it was “an honour to be a friend of King Charles and the family, William”.
His first state visit was in 2019, when he was hosted by the late Queen.
Second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit usually get tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.
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The president was hosted by the Queen in June 2019. Pic: Reuters
But Mr Trump is set to get all the pomp and ceremony laid on again in his honour – with another state banquet likely at Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Family‘s soft power diplomacy is viewed as a way of currying favour with the president, who’s known for his love of the monarchy and links to the UK through his mother, who was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.
It comes as the government seeks an economic deal with the US, in the hope of potentially lessening the impact of the president’s tariffs.
Four people are in hospital as police deal with an active shooter on a university campus in Florida.
Videos showed people running through traffic, fleeing the scene, around the time of the shooting at the student union at Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee.
Local police were “on the scene or on the way”, according to an alert sent out by the school and students have been told to “shelter in place”.
The FBI is also said to be responding to the incident.
Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school.
Pic: AP/Kate Payne
In a statement, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said it was “actively receiving and caring for patients” from the incident.
“At this time, details are still unfolding, and we do not yet have specific information to share. However, we want to assure the community that our teams are fully mobilised and prepared to provide the highest level of care and support to all those affected,” it added.
President Donald Trump said he was fully briefed on the incident and described it as “a shame”.
He added: “It’s a horrible thing. Horrible that things like this take place.”
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, in a statement posted on X, said: “Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding.”
Ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles raced to the campus around midday local time (5pm UK time) on Thursday.
As students streamed away from the area of the student union in their hundreds, some were visibly emotional and others were glued to their phones.
Dozens later gathered near the university’s music school, waiting for news.
Florida State University student Daniella Streety told NBC News of the chaos that unfolded at the scene.
She remained on lockdown in a campus building and said: “I did see them carry out one student in what looked like on a stretcher and kept them in the road until an ambulance was able to pick them up.”
Joshua Sirmans, 20, was in the university’s main library when he said alarms began going off warning of an active shooter.
Police escorted him and other students out of the library with their hands over their heads, he said.
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A US federal judge has warned that he could hold the Trump administration in contempt for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador.
US District Judge James E. Boasberg said he had found “probable cause” to hold the administration in criminal contempt and warned he could refer the matter for prosecution if it does not “purge” its contempt.
If the government doesn’t purge the contempt, charges could be brought forward by the Justice Department, NBC News reported.
And if the executive-led Justice Department refused to prosecute the matter, Judge Boasberg said he would appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt.
Mr Boasberg said the administration could “purge contempt by returning those who were sent to El Salvador prison, in violation of his order, to the US.
This, he said, “might avail themselves of their right to challenge their removability”.
“The Constitution does not tolerate wilful disobedience of judicial orders – especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it,” the judge wrote.
Executive vs judicial
This marks a notable escalation in the ongoing tensions between the judicial and executive branches of the US government during Donald Trump’s second term.
Parts of the US president’s legislative programme have been halted by judges, as the administration strains against the restraints of the separation of powers.
Mr Trump previously called for Judge Boasberg to be impeached while the Justice Department claimed he overstepped his authority – both reflecting the administration’s attempts to overcome perceived obstacles to the implementation of its agenda.
Mr Trump’s administration has also argued it did not violate any orders.
It claimed the judge didn’t include a turnaround directive in his written order and said the planes had already left the US by the time the order came down.
‘Administrative error’
At the heart of the legal wrangling is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.
Washington acknowledged that Mr Garcia was deported due to an “administrative error”.
The US Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return, upholding a court order by Judge Paula Xinis, but Trump officials have claimed that Mr Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: CASA/AP
Mr Garcia’s lawyers have argued there is no evidence of this.
This all comes after El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele visited the White House earlier this week.
During his time with Mr Trump, Mr Bukele said that he would not return Mr Garcia, likening it to smuggling “a terrorist into the United States.”
The US and El Salvador presidents in the Oval Office.
Pic: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Along with Mr Garcia, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, whom it claims are gang members without presenting evidence and without a trial.
Democrat senator travels to El Salvador
Meanwhile, Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday, saying he would seek a meeting with the country’s officials to secure Mr Garcia’s release.
“I just arrived in San Salvador a little while ago and look forward to meeting with the US embassy team to discuss Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release,” Mr Van Hollen said on social media.
Deportations have been an important part of Mr Trump’s second term, with him being vocal on the issue throughout the campaign trail and into office.
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