The blame game surrounding the Corrosion tragedy is definitely getting complicated.
As we’ve been reporting, while Alec Baldwin shot the prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins , he’s likely not the one who was ultimately responsible for the tragedy. Instead, fingers have pointed towards first AD Dave Halls and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed , who both have safety issues in their history and supposedly handled the gun before Baldwin that day. Halls in particular has been described as “ flippant” about safety regulations — and was reportedly the one who announced the gun was safe before handing it to the star.
Related: Read Dave Halls’ First Statement Following Rust Tragedy
On Monday, Halls’ attorney Lisa Torraco was interviewed on Fox News , and her statements complicated the matter even further. She acknowledged:
“ This tragedy is overwhelming to all of us. … It’ s deeply saddening to my client. ”
However, she then outright denied some of the previous reports from the set that will day, saying:
“ In the affidavits, this states that my client grabbed the gun off of a prop cart and handed that to Baldwin. That absolutely did not happen. ”
Huh?! The affidavit was wrong???
Truthfully, Torraco was a bit slippery when pressed to admit whether Halls actually, physically handled the particular gun at all prior in order to the shooting. She cited varying witness accounts, where some remembered the armorer handing off typically the gun, while others said Hannah brought the gun to set, another crew member checked the idea, and then Halls checked the firearm “ like a pass-through” prior to handing it to the actor “ because he was between the two. ” Some apparently recalled Halls holding it for Alec when he adjusted his holster.
Even within her own retelling, it seems pretty likely that Halls handled the gun that day. Still, Torraco stated:
“ My client didn’ t load the firearm. My client didn’ t point the gun at anyone. And my customer didn’ t pull the trigger. The armorer comes in, this armorer opens the firearm, my client looks at it plus one of the other crew members also checks it. Whether or not really he handed the firearm directly to Alec Baldwin at of which moment or whether the armorer handed it directly to Alec Baldwin at that moment doesn’ to really matter because he didn’ t load it. ”
We would argue that in the case of a fatal accidental shooting, every little bit of information does matter when trying to understand exactly what went wrong. But the lawyer insisted:
“ He’ s not responsible for checking it. That’ s not often the assistant director’ s job. If he chooses to check your firearm because he wants to be able to make sure that everyone’ s safe, he can do the fact that, but that’ s not their responsibility. ”
Weird, because Halls himself told law enforcement that the procedure was for him to “ check the barrel for obstructions, most of the time there’s no live fire, she [Hannah] opens the hatch in addition to spins the drum, and I say, ‘ Cold gun on set. ‘” He even admitted that he should have checked all the rounds — but didn’t.
Related: Former Colleague Says Halls Is ‘ In Every Way Responsible’ For Oxidation Shooting
The attorney didn’t answer any questions about the exact reported gun-related incident from the previous job. However, she do say that the current situation is “ extra hard with regard to [Halls] because not necessarily only is he so overwhelmed with sadness, but now the very target of the investigation, people are starting to point fingers at him and it’ s mind-boggling. ”
We’d say it’s also “ extra hard” for director Joel Souza , who was shot and injured that day, or for Halyna’s family, who are mourning her loss. Whether he’s legally responsible or not, Halls appears to have admitted to being negligent about safety leading up to a accident. That may have been just one of the many factors that had to go wrong for this tragic event to occur, but Admission will just have to deal with how “ extra hard” this is while the investigation continues.
[Image via IMDB, Joseph Marzullo/WENN & Today/YouTube]
The post < i> Rust< /i> AD' s Lawyer Contradicts Official Accounts From Day Of Shooting: ' That Absolutely Did Not Happen' appeared 1st on Perez Hilton .
