David Halls, the first assistant director on “Rust,” got emotional Thursday while telling a New Mexico jury about the immediate aftermath of the accidental shooting of Halyna Hutchins, saying he was the first to approach the cinematographer after Alec Baldwin’s gun went off – and that he simply “couldn’t compute” that she had been hit with a live round.
Halls, who pleaded no contest last March to a criminal charge of negligence in the deadly Oct. 21, 2021, incident, was testifying in the criminal manslaughter trial of armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. In afternoon testimony, he was asked by the prosecutor why he made the choice not to fight the misdemeanor charge.
His voice quavering, he responded: “I was negligent in checking the gun properly.”
State attorneys asked Halls to recreate the moment that Baldwin accidentally shot Hutchins. Struggling to compose himself, Halls was asked if he wanted to take a break, but he insisted that he go on:
“The revolver is placed – Mr. Baldwin had a holster that was – the gun was basically at his chest,” he said. “His action was to take the gun out and point it at the two U.S. Marshals who were in the church. He was pulling it out – I’m sure he was getting used to that [cross-draw move] – he was in communications with Mrs. Hutchins about where to point the gun.”
“And then what happened?” the prosecutor asked.
“The gun went off.”
“What did you think happened?”
“So many thoughts,” he continued. “Honestly, the idea that it was a live round of ammunition – it wasn’t computing. My thought was, that a blank round had been loaded, and there had been another instance when an actor was killed by a blank round. Maybe there was … wadding? Maybe pieces of wax that they used, or was there an obstruction in the barrel … It just wasn’t something I could compute in my mind.”
The prosecutor then asked what reactions he saw from the handful of people in the church.
“Ms. Hutchins is to my left, maybe three feet? Three feet away. It was my recollection that I might have been the first person to get to [Hutchins]. She was on the ground.”
“Did you speak to Mrs. Hutchins?”
“I did.”
“What did you say?”
“‘Are you all right?’”
“Did she respond?”
“She said, ‘I can’t feel my legs.’”
Halls said he immediately left the church to make sure someone had called 9-1-1, and stayed out while the set medic treated her “just to keep space.” But at some point he returned, found the revolver sitting on a pew, and brought it out to Gutierrez-Reed, who was at her prop cart “immediately around the corner.”
“I said, ‘I need you to unload that gun, I need to know what’s in it,” Halls said.
Gutierrez-Reed unloaded the gun in front of him, and he immediately noticed that one of the rounds did not look like the others.
“I recall seeing five dummy rounds with the distinctive bright brass,” he said, “and one shell casing that did not … I recall it being gray. Metallic gray. It was just completely different looking. It’s hard to explain. There was some kind of machining or something – a more contemporary looking bullet than what I’m seeing in the other rounds.”
Following the no-contest negligence plea, Halls served a period of unsupervised probation he said just ended in October. He also said he was under no legal obligation to testify for the prosecution, but did so because “it’s important to me that the truth be known.”
“That Halyna’s husband and son, the family, know the truth of what happened,” he continued. “It’s important that the cast and the crew and producers of ‘Rust’ know what happened. And it’s important that the industry knows what happened so that this never happens again.”
Earlier Thursday, a seasoned on-set firearms expert picked apart several videos showing alleged gun-safety violations, including actors swinging muzzles in all directions and Baldwin furiously rushing the crew to reload his revolver and using it as a “pointing stick.” Bryan Carpenter was shown dozens of clips from the low-budget Western, including Gutierrez-Reed holding long-barreled guns by their muzzles and pointed at her own head and other people, describing the moments one-by-one as “fundamental” breaches of gun-safety protocol.
Gutierrez-Reed faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering, with a potential prison sentence of up to three years. The trial began last week in New Mexico before a jury that will determine whether she bears responsibility in the accidental shooting death of Hutchins.
Later in Thursday afternoon’s testimony, prop master Sarah Zachry explained how she served as Gutierrez-Reed’s assistant when it came to the production’s use of firearms. Gutierrez-Reed gave her “a few minutes” of training, according to Zachry. She also noted that Baldwin was working closely with Gutierrez-Reed and would call for her when he needed someone’s assistance with the film’s guns.
During opening statements last week, state prosecutor Jason Lewis asserted that Gutierrez-Reed’s “unprofessional and sloppy” conduct was a contributing factor in Hutchins’ death. Baldwin is expected to also stand trial later this summer on separate manslaughter charges.
Mike Roe contributed to this report.
