Details Emerge Linking Rust Assistant Director To Previous Firearm Incidents
The entertainment world is still reeling from the news of the devastating death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, after an incident with a prop gun wielded by actor Alec Baldwin took her life and wounded director Joel Souza on the set of the Western "Rust." The picture of the tragedy that is not yet complete. As such, the full story is still unfolding, and you never know when more details of the events that led to the shooting incident arrive.
Court records have already revealed that "Rust" assistant director David Halls was the person who handed Baldwin the prop weapon, and informed him that it was safe to use. After the affidavit from the "Rust" set tragedy was made public, it became clear that Halls grabbed the supposedly safe firearm from a cart that had been set up by armorer Hannah Gutierrez, alongside two other prop guns. Now, new information of the "Rust" shooting has arrived, and these new details appear to link the "Rust" assistant director to previous firearm incidents.
David Halls was fired from a previous production after a firearm incident
Members of a production crew that worked on the upcoming movie, "Freedom's Path," have revealed new information about "Rust" assistant director David Halls, per CNN. According to them, Halls was fired from the "Freedom's Path" crew in 2019, after a supposedly empty 19th-century-style rifle "unexpectedly discharged," and a crew member received inner ear injuries that caused balance and hearing problems. They also alleged that the incident happened without the involvement of an on-set armorer, and a "background actor" was on firearm duty at the time.
The production company behind "Freedom's Path," Rocket Soul Studios, has denied that an on-set armorer wasn't present during the incident. However, it did confirm that Halls was fired in the aftermath. "Halls was removed from set immediately after the prop gun discharged. Production did not resume filming until Dave was off site. An incident report was taken and filed at that time," a statement read. Apart from a new assistant director, the company says it also hired a new armorer after the incident.
The three anonymous crew members have also stated that the production of "Freedom's Path" neglected to hold regular safety meetings, and made fairly clear that they didn't feel safe with Halls. "He was a person with enough red flags that his career should have been done with already," one crew member stated. "Yet he was still out there, putting crew into outrageous situations. It's tough to think that Halyna could have just as well been one of our crews. It was just too close for comfort."