‘Rust’ Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed Found Guilty Of Involuntary Manslaughter After Alec Baldwin Shooting

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer who worked on the Alec Baldwin-led western Rust, has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter. She is the first person to stand trial in connection to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins‘ death.

Per Variety, Gutierrez-Reed faces up to 18 months in prison.

Juror Alberto Sanchez commented on the verdict outside of the courthouse, “Someone died. You gotta take responsibility. Especially when you’re handling weapons and you’re in charge of those. That’s your job,” per Deadline.

Gutierrez-Reed loaded a live bullet instead of a dummy round into Baldwin’s gun. Hutchins died when the gun fired during a rehearsal on set, fatally striking the cinematographer and leaving director Joel Souza seriously injured.

Souza took the stand during Gutierrez-Reed’s trial. He recalled the moments after he was shot, where he said he could hear repeatedly apologizing to him, saying, “I’m sorry, Joel,” according to BBC.

During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Gutierrez-Reed brought live bullets to set from her home in California.

But her lawyer Jason Bowles argued that she did not know there were live bullets on set. He also countered that Baldwin had “gone off-script” by pointing the gun at the crew. “It was not in the script for Mr Baldwin to point the weapon,” he said. “She didn’t know that Mr Baldwin was going to do what he did.”

Deadline reports that Gutierrez-Reed was hired on Rust because her father, Thell Reed, is a well-known armorer in the industry.

Gutierrez-Reed also faced charges of tampering with evidence, though she was acquitted. The armorer’s attorney said he felt the evidence in the case “wasn’t sufficient” and plans to appeal her conviction. Her sentencing will take place in April.

Baldwin faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter and will stand trial in July. He has maintained that he did not pull the trigger that day on set.

The actor’s involuntary manslaughter charges were initially dropped in April 2023, but he was indicted again after forensic testing found that “the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”

Filming on Rust officially concluded in May 2023, with Hutchins’ husband serving as executive producer after her estate reached a settlement with Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions LLC.