The Assistant Director who handed Alec Baldwin the gun loaded with live ammunition that he used to accidentally kill cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has a reputation for being laxed with safety and was 'flippant' towards firearms on previous movie sets, DailyMail.com has been told.
David Halls is the Assistant Director of Rust, the Western movie Baldwin was acting in and producing when he accidentally killed Hutchins on Thursday and wounded director Joel Souza.
Search warrants reveal that Halls, and everyone else on the set, was unaware the gun he handed Baldwin contained live ammunition.
He had declared it a 'cold' weapon, meaning it was loaded only with blanks.
As police investigate what exactly happened in the moments leading up to the tragic accident, pyrotechnicians and prop masters who worked with Halls on other projects told DailyMail.com about their concerns about him.
David Halls is the Assistant Director of Rust, the Western movie Baldwin was acting in and producing when he accidentally killed Hutchins on Thursday and wounded director Joel Souza
Baldwin was handed the gun and was told by Halls that it was 'cold'. He was practicing a cross draw when it went off, fatally wounding Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza
One crew member, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being blacklisted, told DailyMail.com that he’d worked with Halls on two similarly low-budget sets in Los Angeles in spring 2019, one where a revolver and Glock were used, and another involving shotguns.
Each morning they’d have a meeting to discuss the weapons and other safety issues, an industry standard. But he said Halls didn’t think they were needed.
'He was very flippant about my insistence on having a safety meeting about the weapons, on both of the sets,' said the crew member, who asked to use the pseudonym “Jay” and has worked on films for 10 years.
'He would rush through it and say, alright guys, be safe, let’s get to work.'
'Even though the guns were not loaded, you have to treat it as if it always is,' he said. “And for me that means doing a safety meeting that may be seen as unnecessary but should absolutely be done so that everyone is on the same page.”
'He would rush through it and say, alright guys, be safe, let’s get to work'
'Systemically, so much pressure is put on the first assistant directors to meet a schedule, to ‘make the day,’ meaning to get all the work done that you already have scheduled for the day,' he continued.
'When it comes to safety on set, or having to wait for anything, because safety takes time, I have seen 1st ADs get annoyed for having to wait.
'But they ultimately understand it needs to be done. But when I worked with him, it was the only time I’ve had any AD ask me, "Do we really need to have a safety meeting?"'
On both sets, no live bullets were used, and no guns were pointed at another person. Camera angles made it appear as if the guns were on target. And before anyone placed their finger on a trigger, an 'armorer' or person on set responsible for weapons, would shine a flashlight down the barrel to show no blockage or potential projectile.
'When you fire, no projectile is supposed to come out, though it still could be dangerous,' Jay said. 'That’s where there are rules. You don’t aim it at anybody at any time.'
Halls has removed his Twitter and LinkedIn accounts and has not commented on the shooting
Sources on the set of Rust said the incident that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins could be tied to the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed
And in no instance would an assistant director ever touch the gun, he said.
'His job is to check the guns, visually, check them with the actor and with the steward on set who is the property person or the armorer,' Jay said.
'The chain of custody for the gun should only be between the armorer, the property person and the actor directly handling it.'
On the set of Rust, Jay said, first of all there shouldn’t have been any live ammunition on the set.
But he believes Hall is primarily responsible for the tragedy because he reportedly shouted 'cold gun' without having visually inspected the weapon to 'clear the gun.'
'That’s what makes me feel he is in every way responsible,' Jay told DailyMail.com.
'First of all, he was never supposed to handle that prop. Then he declared it a cold gun. It literally takes just a few seconds to check the gun to make sure it’s safe.
'He had no idea if it was a cold gun, so why make that announcement?
The crew were filming a scene inside this church when the shooting happened on Thursday. Production has now been halted
