Rust Armorer's Father Makes A Bold Claim About Alec Baldwin's Shooting Accident
Another person has shared their theory regarding the tragic "Rust" shooting.
This time, the father of armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has come forward to defend the embattled crewmember. During an appearance on "Good Morning America" (via Deadline), Thell Reed said of his daughter, "She would have re checked that gun, and if there was a live round in there she would have caught it."
Along with assistant director Dave Halls and actor Alec Baldwin, Gutierrez-Reed has been a focus of the investigation into why a prop gun that was being handled by Baldwin discharged and fatally wounded cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. "Rust" director Joel Souza was also hit by gunfire, but survived.
Reed, who is also an armorer, believes there's a lot more at play with the "Rust" shooting that authorities and investigators aren't seeing. He also called into question assertions that Gutierrez-Reed is inexperienced, saying, "she has been raised around gun safety since she was a little girl." Reed went on to explain what he thinks truly happened on October 21.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's dad believes someone sabotaged the Rust set
Thell Reed ultimately believes that someone purposely placed a live round into the "Rust" batch of phony bullets, asserting that there's "a lot of motive there." His daughter's lawyer, Jason Bowles, was in attendance for Reed's interview with "Good Morning America" and offered his opinion on the matter, as well.
"Somebody wanted to cause a safety incident on set," Bowles said. "Nobody wanted anybody to be killed. We have developed evidence of motive here. Why they wanted to do that. Why Hannah might have been a target and that has all gone to the sheriff."
Reed alleges that Gutierrez-Reed never actually handed Alec Baldwin's prop gun to him before the shooting. According to him, it was assistant director Dave Wells who did, and Gutierrez-Reed was actually outside of the church where the shooting took place when Baldwin allegedly pulled the trigger. Reed claims that it was the first time since filming began that she didn't give the prop gun directly to Baldwin.
The motive of sabotage has been brought up before by Gutierrez-Reed's legal team, who cited a reported walk out on the "Rust" set by a group of disgruntled camera workers just hours before Hutchins was shot. Authorities said late last week that they were still looking at the possibility of criminal charges.