Moments after the fatal gunshot rang out on the set of “Rust,” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins reportedly stumbled backwards into the arms of the film’s head electrician and spoke some of her last words while beginning to recognize the seriousness of the situation as it set in.
“That was no good. That was no good at all,” the 42-year-old mother said, repeating the words of the boom operator who stared down at her as she lay bleeding, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing interviews with more than a dozen “Rust” crew members.
Actor Alec Baldwin had been rehearsing a shootout scene for the Western film at a ranch in New Mexico when he demonstrated pulling out a Colt .45 revolver from his holster and pointed it towards the camera crew, giving them the chance to reposition before they started rolling, according to the Times.
The gun was not supposed to contain a live round, only a dummy round. The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has said through an attorney that she has no idea where the live rounds came from.
“I guess I’m gonna take this out, pull it, and go, ‘Bang!’” Baldwin said just before the shot rang out, according to the Times. A lead projectile fired through Hutchins and lodged into the shoulder of the film’s director, Joel Souza, who had been standing behind her, authorities said.
“That burns!” Souza reportedly cried out as a stunned Baldwin asked over and over again, “What the fuck just happened?”
Souza, according to court documents obtained by NPR, said he recalled seeing Hutchins grab her midsection and begin to stumble before being helped to the ground. She said she couldn’t feel her legs, he told detectives.
Hutchins was pronounced dead several hours later, authorities said.
“She was my friend,” Baldwin told paparazzi Saturday of Hutchins. “We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together, and then this horrible event happened.”
Baldwin said he remains in “constant contact” with Hutchins’ husband, Matthew, who has a 9-year-old son.
“We are very worried about his family and his kid. As I said, we are eagerly awaiting for the sheriff’s department to tell us what their investigation has yielded,” Baldwin said.
No charges have been filed in the case, which remains under investigation.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza, at a press conference last week, said testing is currently underway to determine what kind of ammunition was being used on the set. About 500 rounds were recovered, composed of a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and suspected live rounds, he said.
“Right now, we’re going to determine how those got there, why they were there, because they shouldn’t have been there,” he said of the suspected live rounds.