Workplace safety regulator says management failed in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin

By MORGAN LEE
Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A workplace safety investigator says safety complaints by a movie armorer to managers went largely unheeded on the set of the Western movie “Rust,” where actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer. Defense attorneys on Tuesday called their first witnesses to refute allegations of involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering against movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who has pleaded not guilty. Defense attorneys say their client is being unfairly scapegoated for problems beyond her control. Prosecutors say Gutierrez-Reed is to blame in the 2021 shooting for unwittingly bringing live ammunition on set, and that she flouted basic safety protocols for weapons handling. Baldwin is fighting an involuntary manslaughter charge with a July trial date.