Crew member tells Halyna Hutchins was 18 inches away from gun Alec Baldwin was holding
Dec 11, 2021
Washington [US], December 11 : A crew member has detailed the moment when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was hit with a live round from a gun actor Alec Baldwin was holding during a new interview.
According to Fox News, special effects coordinator Thomas Gandy was about four to five yards away from Baldwin and Hutchins before the gun went off on the set of 'Rust' on October 21. "Halyna was telling Alec she wanted to see his thumb working the hammer back to do the shot," Gandy recalled during ABC's 20/20 episode 'The Deadly Take'.
Hutchins was probably 18 inches or two feet away from the muzzle of the gun when it was fired, according to Gandy.
Gaffer Serge Svetnoy held Hutchins after the gun went off. He recalled Hutchins saying something had happened with her stomach and that she couldn't feel her legs. "Her skin was so white," Svetnoy said.
Nobody knew what had happened in the moments following the shooting, and many refused to acknowledge the worst outcome, crew members said. "I'm telling you right now that was a bullet," Gandy recalled saying.
"We kept hearing she's stable, she's stable," costume designer Terese Davis said. Four days later, Gandy said there were "a bunch of roses where Halyna was shot." It was a "spiritual kind of moment," he added.
Elsewhere in the interview, crew members seemingly disagreed over the reported unsafe conditions on the set. Crew member Lane Luper resigned the morning of Hutchins' death. He had claimed his resignation was due to poor accommodations and unsafe conditions on set.
Specifically, Luper had said that scenes, where guns were used, were played "fast and loose," according to the interview. However, other crew members refuted his allegations. "My drive to set was 75 miles a day each way every day... It was never a problem," Gandy said during the interview. "There was nothing about the schedule that was grueling," he added.
Producers told ABC News that Luper's allegations were "patently false." During the segment, Gandy and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's father, veteran armorer Thell Reed, also spoke to the armorer's safety.
"She's so safe with the guns, the way she handles them, I don't have to worry about anything," Thell said of his daughter, who is believed to have been hired for two roles on the set. "Absolutely," Thell responded when he was asked if he trusted Hannah on any set. "She seemed very safe, I had no reason to doubt her," Gandy said.
As per Fox News, authorities have said Baldwin was told the gun was safe to handle but continue to investigate how a live round ended up in the weapon. Investigators have described "some complacency" in how weapons were handled on the 'Rust' set. They have said it's too soon to determine whether charges will be filed, amid independent civil lawsuits concerning liability in the fatal shooting.
