The assistant director of “Rust” who reportedly handed Alec Baldwin the prop gun that killed Halyna Hutchins was fired from a previous production gig over another firearm incident.
In 2019, when Dave Halls was an assistant director on the movie “Freedom’s Path,” a gun “unexpectedly discharged,” injuring a sound crew member, the production company Rocket Soul Studios told CNN.
The crew member recoiled from the shot, sought medical treatment and missed a few days of work, the report said.
Halls was canned that day.
The assistant director “was very remorseful for the events, and understood the reasons he was being terminated,” the production company told CNN.
“A new assistant director as well as a new armorer were hired for the duration of principal photography. Production of the film finished successfully.”
Baldwin last Thursday unknowingly fired a gun containing a live round on the New Mexico movie set. The bullet fatally struck 42-year-old Hutchins and injured 48-year-old director Joel Souza.
Halls had shouted that the weapon was a “cold gun” — meaning it was safe to use — before giving it to Baldwin, according to a search warrant issued on Friday.
No charges have been filed related to the incident.
