‘Rust’ Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed Breaks Her Silence on the Death of Halyna Hutchins

Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed is speaking out via her lawyers for the first time since the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in New Mexico.

Last Thursday, news broke that Alec Baldwin fired the gun that killed Hutchins and wounded writer-director Joel Souza.

A statement from her lawyers, obtained by “Extra,” says, “First Hannah would like to extend her deepest and most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Halyna. She was an inspirational woman in film who Hannah looked up to. She also offers her thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery to Joel. Hannah is devastated and completely beside herself over the events that have transpired.”

Combatting stories about her in the media, the statement continues, “Safety is Hannah’s number one priority on set. Ultimately this set would never have been compromised if live ammo were not introduced. Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from. Hannah and the prop master gained control over the guns and she never witnessed anyone shoot live rounds with these guns and nor would she permit that. They were locked up every night and at lunch and there’s no way a single one of them was unaccounted for or being shot by crew members. Hannah still, to this day, has never had an accidental discharge. The first one on this set was the prop master and the second was a stunt man after Hannah informed him his gun was hot with blanks.”

The lawyers went on to say, “Hannah was hired on two positions on this film, which made it extremely difficult to focus on her job as an armorer… This was not the fault of Hannah.”

The case is under investigation, and earlier this week, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said this about Gutierrez Reed and assistant director David Halls during an interview with “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie: "I can say this, those two individuals are obviously the focus of the investigation." He also confirmed, "Nobody’s been cleared as of yet.”

Meanwhile, First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told “Today’s” Miguel Almaguer that criminal charges have not been ruled out, saying, "We know mistakes happened. We’re not exactly sure who did, when they did, how they did it."

In a new search warrant affidavit released this week reveals David Halls admitted to authorities he should have checked all rounds in the gun before handing it to Alec, but did not.

A month before tragedy struck the “Rust” set, prop master Neal W. Zoromski was approached to work on the project.

“Extra” guest host Eddie Cibrian spoke to Neal, who opened up on the "warning signs" he saw before turning it down. Watch!