Alec Baldwin ‘Rust’ Police Report Details Troubles With Prop Guns on Set Before Fatal Shooting

A recently released police report from the on-set shooting of Alec Baldwin’s film Rust offers new details about the 2021 fatal shooting. Among the unearthed information, per Deadline, are noted troubles with prop guns prior to the deadly incident. This includes a statement from dolly grip Ross Addiego, who told authorities that armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and her crew had issues with weapons the previous week, allegedly involving “negligent discharges.”

Addiego claims that Gutierrez-Reed was preparing one of the six guns for use when a revolver went off near her foot. The dolly grip also reported a discharged gun that went off in a cabin set, stating that it wasn’t announced. This, per, Addiego, would have been the responsibility of assistant director Dave Halls to let the crew know. Notably, Addiego was present for the tragic shooting that claimed the life of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when one of the guns, held by Baldwin, allegedly went off unexpectedly. Addiego claims that, prior to the incident, he heard Gutierrez-Reed say that the prop gun was clear.”

Seemingly supporting Addiego’s recollection of things, key grip Reese Price, who was also present for the terrible tragedy, stated that he was aware of prop gun issues, including “accidental discharge” incidents that occurred “twice last week all in one day.” Per the police report, Price told officers: “One of the accidental discharges occurred by ‘armorer girl’ who was messing with a gun. The ‘armorer girl’ had the gun pointed down, when it went off accidentally. The second time, one of the stunt actors went to cock the gun and it went off accidentally inside a shack. Reese expressed his concern about accidental discharges occurring on this particular set, which is something that is not supposed to happen.”

Following the police report being released, one of Baldwin’s lawyers issued a statement. “Mr. Baldwin fully cooperated with the investigation and turned over his phone with all records, including all records from the day of the incident, to the Suffolk County Police,” attorney Lukas Nikas said. Quinn Emanuel added, “The Suffolk County Police then reviewed those records and turned them over directly to the Santa Fe County Sheriff, unless the records reflected privileged communications or were irrelevant to the Rust movie.” 

Emanuel continued, “The email referenced is irrelevant to this matter.Mr. Baldwin was referring to his Twitter archive, which he has long considered deleting.He fully preserved all records related to Rust and turned them over to the authorities nearly a year ago.” Rust is currently set to resume filming in January, with Hutchins’ husband now added as an executive producer.