On October 21, 2021, Halyna Hutchins is killed on the film set of Rust, a Western starring Alec Baldwin. The fatal shot comes from a prop gun, handled by Baldwin, which mistakenly contained live ammunition.
Rust, directed by Joel Souza and starring Alec Baldwin, was in production at Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico on October 21, 2021, when tragedy struck on set. A live round hit cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in the chest around 1:50 p.m. as she rehearsed a scene with Baldwin in which his character drew his weapon and pointed it toward the camera. She was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where she died shortly after 3:30 p.m. Director Joel Souza was also injured in the incident, grazed by the same bullet that hit Hutchins.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer—responsible for managing and ensuring the safety of all weapons on set—claimed she had loaded the gun with dummy rounds of ammunition. But one of them was, in fact, a live round. Baldwin later claimed the gun went off after he pulled back the hammer, but not the trigger.
Hutchins was an emerging talent in cinematography. According to her website's biography, she was born in Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle, "surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines.” Without much to do outdoors, she became a movie fan. Before she turned to cinematography, Hutchins worked as a journalist in Eastern Europe, where she was inspired to pursue a career in film while working with documentarians. In 2019, she was honored as one of 10 “rising stars of cinematography” by the American Society of Cinematographers.
Numerous court cases followed the shooting. In January 2023, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed were each charged with involuntary manslaughter. They both pleaded not guilty. The case against Baldwin was initially dropped by prosecutors in April of that year. However, a grand jury voted to indict Baldwin and recharge him with involuntary manslaughter in January 2024. His trial finally commenced with opening statements on July 10, 2024, but only two days later, the judge dismissed Baldwin’s case, ruling that prosecutors had failed to turn over evidence to the defense as required. The judge’s dismissal “with prejudice” meant Baldwin could not be charged again.
Meanwhile, in March 2024, a jury found Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter for negligently handling gun safety on set. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and released on parole after 14 months.
