'I can’t feel my legs': David Halls breaks into tears as he reveals Halyna Hutchins' last words on set
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: The fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins by Alec Baldwin on the set of 'Rust' movie was recounted in a tearful testimony by assistant director David Halls on Thursday, February 29.
Halls, who was in charge of safety on the Western movie set, contradicted previous statements about who handed the loaded revolver to the actor and how it was checked.
David Halls says he saw dummy rounds in the gun before it was given to Alec Baldwin
Halls told the jury that he witnessed the weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is facing manslaughter and evidence tampering charges, give the gun to Baldwin twice.
The first time, she emptied the bullets from the gun, and the second time, she loaded it with several dummy rounds and one live round, Halls said, CBS News reported.
"I did not see Ms Gutierrez take the gun from Mr Baldwin," Halls said during questioning by the prosecution, "but she appeared back on my left-hand side and she said that she had put dummy rounds into the revolver."
He said he performed a cursory inspection of the gun and saw three or four dummy rounds he recognized.
He did not examine all the rounds inside, which he admitted "was negligent in checking the gun properly."
He said, “She took a few steps to Mr. Baldwin and gave … Baldwin the gun,” Halls testified.
Alec Baldwin fired the gun at Halyna Hutchins, killing her and injuring the director
The shooting happened on October 20, 2021, at a ranch near Santa Fe, where the crew was rehearsing a scene inside a makeshift church.
Baldwin, who is the lead actor and co-producer of 'Rust, was pointing the gun at Hutchins, the cinematographer, when it went off, killing her and wounding the director Joel Souza.
He has said that he pulled back the hammer but not the trigger of the gun. He has also given conflicting accounts of who handed him the gun, first saying it was Gutierrez-Reed and then saying it was Halls.
Gutierrez-Reed, who has also pleaded not guilty, has told investigators that she left the gun in Halls’ hands and walked out of the church before the shooting.
David Halls recalls Halyna Hutchins’ last words and his struggle to understand what happened
Halls gave an emotional description of the aftermath of the shooting, saying he was standing 3 feet away from Hutchins when she was hit.
He asked her if she was alright, and she replied, “I can’t feel my legs,” according to a video released by Court TV.
Halls said he left the church to make sure someone called 911 and then went back to get the gun from a pew.
He took it outside and had a crew member unload it and inspect the ammunition. He said he was baffled by how a live round could have been fired.
“The idea that it was a live round of ammunition that went off … it wasn’t computing,” he said.
Halls, who pleaded no contest to negligent use of a firearm and completed six months of unsupervised parole last year, said he agreed to testify to reveal the truth.
“That Halyna’s husband and son, her family, know the truth of what happened,” Halls said.
“It’s important that the cast and the crew, producers of Rust know what happened. And it’s important that the industry, the motion picture and television industry, knows what happened so that this never happens again,” Halls added.
