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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Lizzie McAllister

Alec Baldwin armourer in charge of guns 'wasn't ready' for job before fatal accident

The head armorer in charge of guns on Alec Baldwin's filmset, where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was tragically shot and killed, admitted she wasn't sure she was ready for the job in an interview before filming started.

In a podcast interview last month, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed confessed: "I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly."

Gutierrez-Reed went on to express her fears about loading blanks into a gun, claiming they were 'the scariest' thing and that she needed help from her father, legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, to get over the fear.

Gutierrez-Reed was named along with weathered assistant director Dave Halls on a call sheet, identifying them as crew members who were on site when the tragic accident took place.

Halls mistakenly told Baldwin the gun he was using in the scene cold, meaning that it was safe to fire.

Baldwin then aimed towards the camera and pulled the trigger, fatally injuring Hutchins who was filming him.

The accident came just hours after members of the film crew walked off set over safety fears, it was revealed.

Crew members working on the production expressed concerns and left the set after firearms were accidentally discharged three times: once by Baldwin's stunt double, who had been incorrectly told the gun was not loaded, and twice in a closed cabin.

A search warrant released on Friday revealed that Gutierrez-Reed laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location, before Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds.

Hutchins, 42, was from Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle.

She studied journalism Kyiv before moving to Los Angeles to pursue film.

Baldwin's movie, in which he is both producer and star, is set in 19th-century Kansas and sees the actor play infamous outlaw Harland Rust, whose grandson is sentenced to hang for an accidental murder.

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