“Like a baseball bat to the shoulder”: “Rust” director Joel Souza told a US court on Friday about the moment a gun belonging to actor Alec Baldwin injured him and killed the cameraman.
• Also read: Fatal shooting in the film “Rust”: The gunsmith reveals in court where the bullets came from
• Also read: Fatal shooting in the film “Rust”: Alec Baldwin will go on trial in July
The story was told during the trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for handling the weapons in this low-budget western.
The filming turned into a drama in October 2021 on a ranch in New Mexico, a state in the southwest of the USA. Alec Baldwin, also a producer on the film, had aimed a revolver that was supposed to contain only blank bullets, but a very real projectile had killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured the director.
On the witness stand Friday, Joel Souza recounted his confusion when he took a real bullet in the shoulder. “There was a huge 'thud,'” he said, “I felt like a baseball bat hit me in the shoulder.”
The defendant, gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, looked “distraught,” he said. “I remember her saying 'Sorry, I'm sorry, Joel,' and I remember someone yelling at her” before she was thrown out, he told the court.
AFP
On Thursday, footage shown during the trial showed actor Alec Baldwin gesticulating on set with a gun in his hand, firing empty bullets from the chain and urging the gunsmith to reload his guns faster.
An expert called to the witness stand also denounced a lax attitude towards security within the film crew on Thursday.
One of the central questions is how a very deadly cartridge ended up on the set of Rust.
The 26-year-old gunsmith is charged with manslaughter, a crime punishable by 18 months in prison. She denies the allegations.
Alec Baldwin is being prosecuted on the same charge, but will face a separate trial in July. The 65-year-old actor denies pulling the trigger and has always maintained that he was assured his weapon was harmless.