Movie director who was shot by Alec Baldwin says it felt like being hit by a baseball bat

SANTA FE, N.M. — A film director who was shot by Alec Baldwin throughout a film rehearsal — and survived — testified Friday at trial that he was approaching the cinematographer when he heard a loud bang and felt the bullet’s affect.

“It felt like somebody had taken a baseball bat to my shoulder,” stated Joel Souza, who was wounded by the identical bullet that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set for the upcoming Western film “Rust” on Oct. 21, 2021.

Souza by no means filed a criticism however was known as to testify as prosecutors pursue expenses of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with proof in opposition to film weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who maintains her innocence. Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on “Rust,” was individually indicted by a grand jury final month. He has pleaded not responsible, and a trial is scheduled for July.

Prosecutors are reconstructing a posh chain of occasions that culminated in gunfire on a movie set the place reside ammunition is expressly prohibited.

Souza stated his workday started earlier than daybreak with the belief that six camera-crew members had walked off set. Hutchins put out pressing requires replacements, and filming was again underway by late-morning in an out of doors scene involving horses and wagons.

Work after lunch began with positioning a digital camera in preparation for an excessive close-up take of Baldwin drawing a gun from a holster inside a makeshift church. Souza stated he moved in behind Hutchins for a better have a look at the digital camera angle however by no means noticed the gun that shot him.

“I bought up behind her simply to attempt to see on the monitor, and there was an extremely loud bang,” Souza stated. “This was deafening.”

Baldwin and his dealing with of firearms on set are coming below particular scrutiny in questioning by prosecutor and protection attorneys.

On Thursday, prosecutors performed video footage of Baldwin pressuring the film armorer to rush up as she reloads weapons between scenes.

“Yet one more, let’s reload immediately,” Baldwin says on the shut of a scene. “Right here we go, come on. We must always have had two weapons and each had been reloading.”

Gutierrez-Reed could be seen rapidly loading a revolver.

Knowledgeable witness Bryan Carpenter, a Mississippi-based specialist in firearms security on movie units, stated Baldwin’s instructions infringed on fundamental business security protocols and obligations of the armorer.

“He is mainly instructing the armorer on do their job … ‘Hurry up, give it to me quick,’” Carpenter stated. “Dashing with firearms and telling somebody to hurry with firearms shouldn’t be — not regular or accepted.”

On Friday, protection lawyer Jason Bowles pressed Souza to recollect whether or not the script explicitly known as for Baldwin to level the gun towards the digital camera, the place he and Hutchins had been standing.

“And are you aware whether or not, from the script, whether or not that firearm was imagined to be pointed in direction of the digital camera?” Bowles inquired.

“It’s not a matter of the script, actually. For that particular shot, it was actually imagined to be the gun being pulled out sideways,” Souza stated.

Prosecutors say Gutierrez-Reed is accountable for unwittingly bringing reside ammunition on set and that she flouted fundamental security protocols for weapons — partly by leaving the church rehearsal whereas a gun nonetheless was in use. Protection attorneys say it wasn’t Gutierrez-Reed’s choice to go away.

Souza stated he solely recalled seeing Gutierrez-Reed contained in the church after he was shot.

“I bear in mind at one level wanting up and her standing there … distraught,” Souza stated. “I bear in mind her saying, ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Joel.’ And I bear in mind someone simply screaming at her, and so they simply ushered her out.’”