The woman responsible for the weapon used by Alec Baldwin in a tragic film set accident this week had said she was “really nervous” about her ability to work with prop guns.
Baldwin’s prop firearm discharged during the filming of the movie “Rust” in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Thursday.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed. Director Joe Souza, 48, was injured and taken to a nearby hospital.
Hannah Reed, the film crew’s armorer, last month admitted that she was unsure of her ability to do her job.
“You know, I was really nervous about it at first, and I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready. But doing it, like, it went really smoothly,” Reed said on the “Voices of the West” podcast on Sept. 11.
Reed was then working on a movie called “The Old Way.” She said it was her first time as a head armorer.
Loading blanks was the “scariest” part of the job, Reed said. She said her father, fellow Hollywood armorer Thell Reed, helped show her the ropes.
According to CNN, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department has issued a search warrant for the property where “Rust” was being filmed.
Steve Wolf, a theatrical firearms safety expert, said “there is no excuse for something like this to happen.”
“The physics of how bullets enter people has been known for about 5,000 years,” he added.
Armorers should always look inside the cylinder of a weapon to ensure “there is nothing in the gun that could come out,” Wolf said.
“If you put a blank in there, you make sure there is a blank, no bullet on the end of it.”
Baldwin tweeted his condolences to Hutchins’ family and friends after the accident.
1-
There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and— AlecBaldwin(HABF) (@AlecBaldwin) October 22, 2021
2- I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.
— AlecBaldwin(HABF) (@AlecBaldwin) October 22, 2021
“My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”