‘Rust’ Assistant Director: I Didn’t Check Alec Baldwin’s Gun—but ‘Should Have’
The assistant director of Rust admitted to authorities that he didn’t properly check the barrel of the Colt revolver he handed to Alec Baldwin, who then fired a live round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, a newly unsealed search warrant reveals.
Dave Halls allegedly told investigators that typically he would “check the barrel for obstructions,” and then armorer Hannah Reed-Gutierrez “opens the hatch and spins the drum,” before he yells out “cold gun” on set. But before the tragic Oct. 21 shooting, Hall said he “could only remember seeing three rounds” of dummy bullets in the chamber.
“He advised he should have checked all of them, but didn’t, and couldn’t recall if she spun the drum,” the warrant, obtained by The Daily Beast, states.