Movie armorer completes prison sentence in fatal ‘Rust’ set shooting

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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A movie armorer convicted in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western movie “Rust” was released from a New Mexico prison on Friday after completing an 18-month sentence.

Prison records show Hannah Gutierrez-Reed signed out of the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants to return home to Bullhead City, Arizona, on parole related to her involuntary manslaughter conviction in the death of Halyna Hutchins in 2021.

Gutierrez-Reed also is being supervised under terms of probation after pleading guilty to a separate charge of unlawfully carrying a gun into a licensed liquor establishment.

Baldwin, the lead actor and coproducer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

A jury convicted Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter in March 2024. Gutierrez-Reed has an appeal of the conviction pending in a higher court. Jurors acquitted her of allegations she tampered with evidence in the “Rust” investigation.

Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust” and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.

Gutierrez-Reed carried a gun into a downtown Santa Fe bar where firearms are prohibited weeks before “Rust” began filming.

The terms of parole include mental health assessments and a prohibition on firearms ownership and possession.

An involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin was dismissed at trial last year on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense.

The filming of “Rust” was completed in Montana. The Western was released in theaters this month.