OSHA Investigation Finds RUST Armorer Not Given Enough Time to Check Set’s Guns

Published: March 7, 2024

OSHA Investigation Finds RUST Armorer Not Given Enough Time to Check Set’s Guns

By Movieguide® Contributor

An OSHA investigation found that RUST armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed was not given adequate time to ensure there were no live rounds on the movie’s set.

“We came to the conclusion that she was not afforded time to conduct her duties to the best of her diligence,” Lorenzo Montoya said. “The employer is asking an individual to perform multiple safety-related functions for them, while also telling them that they’re spending too much time engaging in those safety-related functions.”

Movieguide® previously reported on the shooting and Gutierrez Reed’s trial:

Opening statements of the involuntary manslaughter case against RUST’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed occurred at the end of last week, citing her sloppiness as the reason for the accident.

“The defendant treated the safety protocols as if they were optional rather than if people’s lives counted on her doing her job correctly,” prosecutor Jason Lewis said in his opening statement. “By failing to make those vital safety checks, the defendant acted negligently and without due caution. The decision she made that day contributed to Ms. Hutchins’ death.”

The movie’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was killed when Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun that he was given during the blocking of a scene in October 2021. The movie’s director, Joel Souza, was also injured during the accident, receiving a bullet to the shoulder.

NBC reported, “The case centers on how a live round of ammunition found its way onto the film’s set and into the gun held by Baldwin. Although Baldwin maintains he did not pull the trigger, the gun fired a bullet.”

Montoya claimed RUST’s management team directed Gutierrez Reed to focus on other tasks, distracting her from her armorer duties. He also said she “effectively had no authority” to make any decisions about gun safety training on the movie’s set, which is a violation of industry safety standards.

However, the prosecution argued that Gutierrez Reed had hours of free time the morning of the shooting, which she could have used to check the set’s firearms.

“The people on the movie set depended on her guidance to keep anyone from being harmed,” the state’s expert armorer, Bryan Carpenter, said.

Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys called ammunition supplier Seth Kenney to the stand, pointing to his “cluttered” business as a reason why live rounds made their way to the RUST set in the first place, as well as his “hazy” recollections about when he received live rounds to give to another production.

Her attorneys have also claimed RUST star Alec Baldwin was handling the production’s firearms “inappropriately” by pointing them at the crew.

“You’re not going to hear anything about [Gutierrez Reed] being in that church or firing that weapon — that was Alec Baldwin,” defense attorney Jason Bowles said.

Gutierrez Reed’s trial is ongoing, while Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter trial is set to begin in July.