The lawyer representing the assistant director of “Rust” David Halls appeared on Fox News Monday afternoon and refused to confirm whether her client was the last one to touch the live gun handed to Alec Baldwin before it was fired.
“Did your client hand the gun to Alec Baldwin right before he fired the gun and shot Halyna Hutchins?”, “The Story” host Martha MacCallum asked lawyer Lisa Torraco. (RELATED: Alec Baldwin Gives First Public Remarks After Fatal ‘Rust’ Shooting)
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“First of all, I wasn’t there,” Torraco replied.
Pressed by MacCallum for a second time if Halls handed Baldwin the live gun, Toracco said, “The armorer brought the firearm into the scene. The armorer is responsible to make sure the firearm is safe. The armorer opens the revolver, opens the round. My client didn’t load the firearm. My client didn’t point it and he didn’t pull the trigger. So the armorer comes in. The armorer opens the firearm. My client looks at it. One of the other crew members also checks it.”
“Whether or not he handed the firearm directly to Alec Baldwin at that moment or whether the armorer handed it to Alec Baldwin at that moment doesn’t really matter because he didn’t load it, he’s not responsible for checking it,” Torraco went on to say.
Before the interview concluded, MacCallum cited testimony from investigators that said Halls advised the investigators that he should have checked the gun before it was handed to Baldwin but failed to do so.
“Can you confirm or deny that part of the story before I let you go?” MacCallum asked.
“What I can tell you is that expecting an assistant director to check a firearm is like telling the assistant director to check the camera angle or telling the assistant director to check sound or lighting. It’s not their job. If he chooses to check the firearm because he wants to make sure that everyone is safe, he can do that. That’s not his responsibility. It’s just like he’s not the camera operator, he’s not the sound operator. He’s not the armorer. So I disagree with the other reports coming out. This is such a tragedy,” Torraco said.
The final words of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed on the set of the movie “Rust”, were recently revealed by fellow crew members, according to reports.
So far, no one has been arrested and no charges have been filed against anyone working on the film. However, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies has said that “no one has been ruled out” and “criminal charges” are on the table in the shooting.
Two accidental discharges of firearms on the set of “Rust” occurred before the deadly discharge that struck and killed Hutchins, as previously reported.