Audio recordings of emergency calls from the crew of Alec Baldwin’s film Rust reveal desperate attempts to save their colleague and allegations of negligence.
Mamie Mitchell, the film’s executive writer, called after Baldwin accidentally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, and director Joel Souza, 48.
The group was shooting the western film in the desert outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico when the tragedy struck on October 21.
In her call, Mitchell, a veteran scriptwriter with credits dating back to 1974, points the finger at the assistant director and accuses him of negligence.
Mitchell calls 911 and tells the woman who answered, “We need an ambulance at Bonanza Creek Ranch immediately. We accidentally shot two people on a movie set.’
While on the phone, Mitchell instructs another person to “clear the road” so the ambulance can easily reach the site.
Mitchell is then transferred to the Santa Fe Fire and Emergency Medical Services and panics for a quick response.
“Bonanza Creek Ranch. We accidentally shot two people on a movie set with a prop gun.
“We need help immediately. Bonanza Creek Ranch. Come on.’
David Halls is the assistant director on Rust, the western film that Baldwin was starring in and producing when he accidentally killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza
The 911 operators then ask Mitchell for her details.
Mitchell, who has worked on films like No Country For Old Men, Sicario and 3:10 to Yuma, can be heard saying, “It sounds like someone else is calling an ambulance.
“Everyone should be. we need some help
“Our director and our camerawoman were shot.”
She then asks someone on set, “Are they going to take him out on the street?”
The 911 driver asks, “So, was it loaded with a real bullet or what?”
Mitchell replies, “I don’t know, I can’t tell you. We have two injuries from a film shot.’
As the operator punches in the details, Mitchell can be heard saying to someone else, “Okay, that crappy AD who yelled at me at lunch asking me for revisions, that shit.
“Did you see him lean over my desk and yell at me? Have him check the guns. He is responsible for what happened.’
According to a search warrant filed with a Santa Fe court, the gun was one of three placed on a cart by the film’s gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez, outside of the wooden structure where a scene was being played.
Assistant director Dave Halls snatched the gun from the car and brought it in to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.
It is unknown if Mitchell referenced Halls in the audio.
It was unclear how many shots were fired. Gutierrez removed a cartridge case from the gun after the shooting and turned the gun over to police when it arrived, court records say.
During the call, 911 dispatchers try to ask Mitchell how many people were injured, and Mitchell, confused, replies, “No, no, I’m a script supervisor.”
The operator asks again and Mitchell says, “Two I know. I sat there and rehearsed and it went off and I ran out. We all went out but passed the camerawoman and the director.’
She says to another person: “They are clearing the street, can you go back – back to the city, back to the west camp.”
The operator asks if there’s serious bleeding, and Mitchell nervously hands the phone over to a man.
‘Hi?’ says the man.
“Hi, I have a log of questions I need to ask. If you could answer them as best you can,” says the 911 employee. “Are you fully awake?”
The man replies, “Yes, they are alert.”
The operator asks if the bleeding is under control and the man replies, “Let’s see if I can get in closer… No.”
It’s unclear if he’s saying the bleeding isn’t under control or that he can’t get any closer.
“We have one ready,” he tells the operator, adding that they are near gate one and have a van ready to get the ambulances to the right place quickly.
A devastated Baldwin is pictured hunched outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office after speaking to investigators
A woman then calls back and says, “Hi, I’m calling from Bonanza Creek Ranch. We actually need two ambulances, not one.”
The operator replies, “Okay, let’s make one call for someone else now, and we’ll put two through to you.”
The woman, whose voice betrays the tension, replies, “Okay. And that’s 10 to 15 minutes?’
“I don’t know – we’ll bring them to you right now,” the operator replies.
‘What? What?’ says the woman, sounding panicky as she talks to someone else.
“We have two ambulances on their way to you.”
‘What?’ says the woman and then talks back to the operator: “OK, thanks.”
The operator replies: ‘You’re welcome, bye.’
Mitchell later said she was standing next to Hutchins when she was shot at.
“I ran out and called 911 and said, ‘Bring everyone, send everyone,'” Mitchell told The Associated Press.
“This woman left early in her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.”
Mitchell said she and other crew members attended a private memorial service in Santa Fe.
Baldwin described the murder as a “tragic accident”.
“There are no words to express my shock and sadness at the tragic accident that claimed the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I fully cooperate with the police investigation,” Baldwin wrote on Twitter.
“My heart is broken for her husband, her son and everyone who knew and loved Halyna.”
No immediate charges were filed, and sheriff’s spokesman Juan Rios said Baldwin was allowed to travel.
“He’s a free man,” Rios said.