‘Rust’ Director Joel Souza Says He Didn’t See Who Handed Gun To Alec Baldwin Before Fatal Shooting, Recalls Being Wounded And Thinking “Nothing Made Sense”
01.03.2024 - 19:54
/ deadline.com
“Rust” director Joel Souza took the stand today in the trial of armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, telling the court that he did not see who gave Alec Baldwin the firearm in the fatal shooting incident.
“I didn’t see anybody give it to him,” Souza said, emphasizing that there was “an enormous amount going on” in the New Mexico church set at the time.
On Thursday, the movie’s first assistant director David Halls testified that it was Gutierrez-Reed who gave Baldwin the gun, contradicting various other witnesses including Alec Baldwin’s the initial statement to police.
Gutierrez-Reed is on trial on charges of manslaughter and tampering with evidence. On Oct. 21, 2021, Baldwin was pointing the run at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins went it went off. The bullet struck and killed her, and wounded Souza. Baldwin was indicted on an involuntary charge and is scheduled to go to trial in July.
In his testimony, Souza recalled the moments of disbelief about what had happened.
Souza said that in the time just before the shooting, he went inside the church “to try to see what the angle was. There were a lot of voices. I heard Alec’s voice. I heard Halyna’s voice. Everyone is sort of talking at once.”
The bullet struck Hutchins and then Souza.
“I don’t have a clear memory of how long I was standing behind her,” he said. “I know I got a behind her to try to see on the monitor, and there was an incredibly loud bang, that was not like the half and quarter loads you hear on a set. Those are sort of, they are loud proofs and pops. This was deafening. And it felt like somebody had taken a baseball bat to my shoulder. I remember that distinctly, and sort of stumbling back and shouting, I don’t remember exactly what I said.”
Souza said that