May 25, 2025: Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer at the center of the fatal shooting on the set of Rust, has been released on parole after serving 14 months of her 18-month prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter.
The 28-year-old was convicted earlier this year for loading a live round into the gun that actor Alec Baldwin fired, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza in October 2021. She had been held at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility and was released Friday, returning to her home in Bullhead City, Arizona.
Gutierrez Reed’s release includes strict parole terms. She is banned from owning or handling firearms and must undergo a mental health evaluation. She is also required to find work or enroll in school within 45 days.
Her defense argued that she was unaware a box of dummy rounds had been tainted with live ammunition and blamed poor safety oversight and budget constraints on the Rust set. Prosecutors, however, pointed to her failure to detect the live round by not properly inspecting the ammunition.
The source of the live round remains a key mystery, and her legal team has filed an appeal citing alleged errors by the trial judge. Several civil lawsuits related to the incident are still pending.
Other crew members have also faced legal consequences. First assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest to negligent firearm handling and received six months of unsupervised probation. He has since retired from the film industry.
Despite the tragedy, Rust completed production in Montana and saw a limited theatrical release in May, grossing just $25,000 across 115 theaters.