'Rust' armorer's New Mexico attorneys investigating shooting

New Mexico defense attorneys hired by the armorer for the film “Rust” started their own investigation into Alec Baldwin’s shooting of a cinematographer and film director, they said Friday.

Describing their client, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, as being falsely portrayed and slandered in news media accounts, Albuquerque attorneys Robert Gorence of Gorence & Oliveros PC and Jason Bowles of the Bowles Law Firm said in a statement, “Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from.”

Bowles added in an email response to the Daily Journal’s questions about how a bullet got into a gun being fired on the set: “Am conducting our own investigation first.”

“Hannah was hired on two positions on this film, which made it extremely difficult to focus on her job as an armorer,” according to the statement. “She fought for training, days to maintain weapons, and proper time to prepare for gunfire but ultimately was overruled by production and her department. This was not the fault of Hannah.”

Gutierrez-Reed never witnessed anyone target shooting with live ammunition and safety was her No. 1 priority on set. The guns “were locked up every night and at lunch and there’s no way a single one of them was unaccounted for or being shot by crew members,” the statement said.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed at a Wednesday news conference that a .45 caliber Colt bullet was fired by Baldwin from an F. LLI Pietta 1873 single action revolver, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Brandon D. Fox, managing partner of Jenner & Block in Los Angeles, is leading an investigation on behalf of the production company, the firm announced last week.

Also, Gloria Allred said her firm, Allred, Maroko & Goldberg, in Los Angeles is conducting an investigation on behalf of her client, the script supervisor who was the first to call 911.