‘Rust’ Armorer Attorneys Claim Sabotage On Set Led To Halyna Hutchins Death

attorneys for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set of “Rust”, suggested sabotage by a disgruntled employee as a possible circumstance for what led to Halyna Hutchins’ death during a Wednesday appearance on “Today.”

Though there is no evidence to support the sabotage claim, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys, Jason Bowels and Robert Gorence suggested that someone put a live round in a box of dummy ammunition.

"There was a box of dummy rounds labeled 'dummy,'" Bowles said. "We don’t know whether the live round came from that box. We’re assuming somebody put the live round in that box."

The only support for the claim is the report that multiple crew members walked offset a day before the fatal incident that killed Hutchins, 42, when Alec Baldwin, 63, fired a weapon. Now, attorneys claim someone wanted payback.

Allegations by former crew members suggest that there were multiple misfiring of prop guns and a disregard for safety, which is why many walked off set amid calls to strike from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union.

Baldwin shared a post recently dismissing suggestions that the set was unsafe.

“We know there was a live round in a box of dummy rounds that shouldn’t have been there,” Bowles said. “We have people who had left the set, who had walked out because they were disgruntled. We have a time frame between 11 (a.m.) and 1 (p.m.), approximately, that day, in which the firearms at times were unattended, so there was opportunity to tamper with this scene.”

A surge in demand for new content in Hollywood has led to corner-cutting, which industry insiders say could have contributed to the tragedy on the set of 'Rust' last week AFP / Anne LEBRETON

The act could have been unintentional, or perhaps the “Rust” armorer and anyone else on set should have checked to make sure there were no live rounds before giving the gun to Baldwin. However, the attorneys never addressed those possibilities.

The circumstances surrounding what happened to Hutchins in New Mexico are still under investigation and no charges have been filed against anybody for her death. Baldwin told reporters near Manchester, Vermont that he believes it is unlikely the film will ever be completed, according to TMZ.