Americans were shocked last week to learn that Hollywood star Alec Baldwin had fatally shot someone on the set of Rust, a Western-themed movie in which he starred and produced.
Now, authorities are focused on the set armorer who handled the gun prior to handing it to Baldwin, given new allegations from people who have worked with her on past projects, according to Insider.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed served as the set armorer for Rust, and a person who worked on an earlier project with her said he witnessed a disturbing incident in which Gutierrez-Reed was involved.
Stu Brumbaugh was employed as a grip on a film called The Old Way, starring Nicholas Cage. He was quoted by Insider as telling The Wrap that he once witnessed Gutierrez-Reed discharge a weapon on set without warning the cast or the crew.
Unsafe behavior?
“Make an announcement, you just blew my f–king eardrums out,” Brumbaugh recalled Cage as yelling in response to the armorer’s seemingly haphazard approach to her job. The former crew member went on to say that it was the second such incident in the span of a three-day period.
What’s more, Brumbaugh described other examples of unsafe behavior on Gutierrez-Reed’s part, which included a time when she allegedly brought blank rounds onto a set, unannounced, and tucked guns in her armpits.
Brumbaugh claimed to have taken his concerns about Gutierrez-Reed to the film’s assistant director, who informed him that it was her first film.
Opposing stories
However, The Wrap also noted that it spoke with one of The Old Way’s producers, who disputed Brumbaugh’s version of events.
“I have no such recollection of this event on our set,” the unidentified producer reportedly said. “I asked my partners the same,” the producer added.
“The details on some of these accounts specifically when it pertains to The Old Way have been blown out of proportion,” the unnamed individual insisted.
The New York Post reported that lawyers for Gutierrez-Reed told NBC News on Thursday that she “has no idea” how live rounds ended up in the gun that Baldwin used.
What’s more, Gutierrez-Reed complains that she was left understaffed by the film’s producers, which includes Baldwin, and was overruled when she attempted to improve safety conditions on the set.
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