'I heard this shot': 'Rust' armorer recounts the moment of Alec Baldwin's fatal blast

Six months after actor and producer Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set of the western "Rust," the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office released hundreds of documents and dozens of videos from its investigation.

Dash-cam footage from deputies and detectives arriving at the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set minutes after the shooting, set videos, crime-scene photos, lengthy witness interviews and a 204-page case report summarizing the investigation were included in the trove of evidence. Deputies' lapel cameras captured footage from the scene, depicting Baldwin and others struggling to make sense of what they had just witnessed.

The records and videos, released earlier this week, shed more light on the roles of Baldwin, the film's assistant director and safety officer Dave Halls, and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was working on just her second project as head armorer.

No charges have been filed so far in the case, though local authorities have been scrutinizing the actions of the three individuals who had handled the gun: Baldwin, Halls and Gutierrez Reed.

The sheriff’s office’s investigation into the shooting, which also wounded director Joel Souza, remains open. Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Monday that his office is waiting for the completion of an FBI analysis and data from Baldwin's cellphone before wrapping up its investigation. New Mexico's First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies will decide whether criminal charges are filed.

As armorer, Gutierrez Reed, who was 24 at the time of the accident, was responsible for the guns, ammunition and gun safety. The videos released depict a young woman, at first, struggling to grasp the enormity of the incident and her potential liability. A later video shows Gutierrez Reed cooperating with sheriff's office investigators in a lengthy interview nearly three weeks after the shooting.

"I heard this shot"

Santa Fe Sheriff's deputies interviewed Gutierrez Reed Oct. 21, just a few hours after the fatal shooting, at the department's offices. Gutierrez Reed, who at the time didn't have an attorney, agreed to answer questions about the weapons and the events that had just transpired at the ranch.

Nearly three weeks after the shooting, on Nov. 9, Gutierrez Reed returns to the sheriff's office for her second interview, which spanned more than three hours. During this session, the armorer is represented by Jason Bowles, an Albuquerque attorney. The primary investigator on the case, Det. Alexandria Hancock, questions Gutierrez Reed.

Hancock is immediately struck that the armorer is no longer sporting light green and purple hair. Gutierrez Reed said she has endured "a lot of hatred" since the shooting.

"I was told I wasn't pulling my weight in props" 

Gutierrez Reed told sheriff's investigators she was pulled in two directions while working on "Rust." As armorer, she was responsible for guns and gun safety, but she also was filling the role of key props assistant. She said that after the first week, a production manager criticized her for focusing too much on her armorer role and said she needed to spend more time handling the film's props.

New Mexico Environment Department’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau earlier this month released a scathing report, faulting the film's producers — Rust Movie Productions LLC — for the tragedy, and imposed the maximum fine, saying production managers "demonstrated plain indifference" to employee safety. Producers knew that firearm safety procedures were not being followed, and they failed to investigate earlier incidents or take corrective action, the report said.

"Who provides the ammo?"

Gutierrez Reed told the investigator how she and the film's property master, Sarah Zachry, met the weapons provider, Seth Kenney, at his Albuquerque shop days before the film began production. The two young women collected guns and ammunition from the production, and Gutierrez Reed was told to bring some rounds from an earlier production.

"I grabbed some dummies from that box"

Before lunch on the day of the shooting, Gutierrez Reed said she loaded Baldwin’s weapon with five dummy rounds but she was unable to load a sixth round in the cylinder because of an obstruction in the chamber. After lunch, as Baldwin, the director and others were gathering in the old wooden church, Gutierrez Reed said she cleaned the chamber. She loaded the gun with dummies she found in a box in the prop truck, and some rounds that she had been carrying in her pants pocket.

"He might honestly shoot himself in the arm"

The armorer describes how she "fought" for training days to work with actors handling their guns but was told by higher-ups on the "Rust" production that the performers didn't need it because they were all "trained people." Still, she got time with Baldwin, although she said he was "distracted" and on his phone throughout their training session.

She fretted "he might honestly shoot himself in the arm" if he didn't practice more with his holster, and reached out to the actor's assistant to set up further training. However, Baldwin did not show up for a second training session, she said. Baldwin has said that he followed safety protocols, trusted the professionals to do their jobs and had no idea that the gun he fired contained live rounds.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.