Sabotage could be behind tragedy on Baldwin movie set, lawyer says

A lawyer for the armorer who oversaw weapons used on the "Rust" movie set suggested on Wednesday that someone deliberately put a live round into the gun used by Alec Baldwin when he accidentally shot dead a cinematographer.

Lisa RichwineReuters
Published : 5 Nov 2021, 06:28 AM
Updated : 5 Nov 2021, 06:28 AM

Jason Bowles said his client, Hannah Gutierrez, had pulled ammunition from a box that she believed contained only dummy rounds that were incapable of firing. He said he thought it was possible that someone purposely placed real bullets, which look similar to dummies, in the box.

"We're afraid that could have been what happened here, that somebody intended to sabotage this set with a live round intentionally placed in a box of dummies," Bowles said on ABC television's "Good Morning America."

"We're not saying anybody had any intent there was going to be a tragedy of homicide," he added, "but they wanted to do something to cause a safety incident on set. That's what we believe happened."

A spokeswoman for producers Rust Movie Productions had no comment on Bowles' remarks. The company has said it is investigating the incident and had received no official complaints about safety on the set in Santa Fe, New Mexico.