‘Rust’ props crew was ‘immature’ and ‘horrified’ others on set: report

A source told Fox News that head armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, and her assistants on set allegedly played around with the weapons, left them leaning against their own bodies, propped up with the barrel in the ground, sometimes while they were on their cellphones.

Camera assistant Lane Luper, who walked off the set before the fatal shooting because of unaddressed safety issues, described Gutierrez Reed’s armory crew as “three inexperienced people” in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.

“It’s fine on a [low-budget production] to have inexperienced people, but your department heads shouldn’t be, or people handling firearms shouldn’t be,” he told the Reporter. “It seemed like she was also under a lot of pressure to rush.”

Images taken before the shooting and obtained by Fox show Gutierrez-Reed and two other women standing in a circle with a pair of Old West rifles and a revolver, with the barrel of one weapon laying against the abdomen of one woman and the other using her hip to prop up a gun.

This news comes after reports of two accidental discharges on set, an accidental special effects explosion, and allegations that the prop gun involved in the fatal accident had been used that morning by crew members to shoot cans for fun. Ms. Gutierrez-Reed also allegedly had a history of safety violations on set

Jason Bowles, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed's attorney disputed this characterization of his client, stating that "Hannah was very well trained by her father, Thell, who worked with her on sets from the time she was 10 years old. She did everything she could to ensure safety on the set."

The investigation into the shooting remains ongoing.