The initial video from a police lapel camera shows a crestfallen Gutierrez-Reed shortly after the fatal shooting.
“Welcome to the worst day of my of my life,” the armorer told the detective after the shooting, but before she knew of Hutchins’ death. “I can’t believe Alec Baldwin was holding the gun.”
Prosecutors highlighted inconsistencies in the videotaped statements by Gutierrez-Reed, debunking her claim to have inspected all rounds in Baldwin’s gun prior to the shooting by shaking them for a telltale rattle. That shake can identify inert dummy rounds where gunpowder has been replaced by BBs, but investigators say at least one round contained no BBs and was marked as a dummy by a hole in the side.
Hancock testified that she investigated Kenney initially as the potential source of live ammunition, which is expressly prohibited on movie sets, but found out that he never went to the set of “Rust” and that a search of his property in Albuquerque turned up live rounds that didn’t resemble live rounds later discovered on the set of “Rust,” including the round that killed Hutchins.
Meanwhile, Gutierrez-Reed told investigators in November 2021 that she retrieved loose ammunition from a bag left over from work on a prior film, checked that they were dummy rounds and brought the rounds in two boxes to the “Rust” set. She said that ammunition first sat in her car for two weeks.
Questioned about any possible sabotage by cast or crew members, Gutierrez-Reed dismissed the idea and said no one there was “that malicious.” Six members of the film crew walked off the job the night before the fatal shooting in a dispute involving working conditions.
Gutierrez-Reed also previously told investigators including Hancock that Baldwin talked on his phone during a firearms training session for “Rust,” indicating he may have been distracted.
Defense attorneys did not yet have the opportunity to cross-examine Hancock on Tuesday.
Prosecutors argue that Gutierrez-Reed is to blame for bringing live ammunition on set and that she treated basic safety protocols for weapons as optional. They say six live rounds found on the “Rust” set bear identical characteristics — and don’t match live rounds seized from the movie’s supplier in Albuquerque.