‘Rust’ Armorer’s GoFundMe Shut Down for Violating Rules Against Raising Money for Legal Defense of “Violent Crimes”

Rebecca Keegan
·3 min read
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GoFundMe has shut down the fundraiser that Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed‘s family started to help pay for the cost of an appeal because it violated the company’s rules against raising money for “the legal defense of alleged financial and violent crimes.”

The family had launched the fundraiser ahead of Gutierrez-Reed’s scheduled sentencing for involuntary manslaughter on April 15. The 26-year-old Arizona woman faces up to 18 months in prison for her role in the accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the low-budget Western. Gutierrez-Reed has been in custody since the Santa Fe jury’s verdict was read March 6.

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During her trial, Gutierrez-Reed was represented pro bono by New Mexico attorney Jason Bowles. The GoFundMe, begun by her father, longtime entertainment industry armorer Thell Reed, asked donors to contribute to appeals expenses, with a fundraising goal of $100,000.

The shooting occurred Oct. 21, 2021, when an old-fashioned revolver handled by Alec Baldwin went off while he was practicing drawing the prop firearm. Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured.

During the trial, prosecutors said that Gutierrez-Reed, who has maintained that she believed she loaded Baldwin’s gun with “dummy” rounds, was careless in handling firearms and ammunition on the Rust set. The defense argued that Gutierrez-Reed was a scapegoat for larger safety issues on the low-budget Western that she could not control and faulted Baldwin, one of more than a dozen producers on the film, among others. Baldwin, who is set to go to trial in July on involuntary manslaughter charges, has pleaded not guilty.

The text accompanying the Reed family’s GoFundMe said, “Gutierrez-Reed was singled out by prosecutors as the main person responsible, based on a botched, suspiciously biased investigation by New Mexico authorities, despite what official OSHA reports and OSHA investigators found to be unsafe actions and a culture of lack of safety throughout the production, clearly placing blame on the film’s producers and producing staff.” The family’s request goes on to state that “The judicial scales in Hannah’s case are unfair and unbalanced. Justice for Halyna does not mean justice for Hannah.”

Ahead of Gutierrez-Reed’s sentencing, supporters of the armorer, including Edward Romero, a former ambassador to Spain under President Clinton and Hispanic community leader in New Mexico, and Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown have sent letters to the judge on her behalf.

A sentencing memo Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys filed with the court April 10 says that the armorer has been suffering anxiety, fear and depression since the shooting, and has been seeking counseling at the Mohave Mental Health Clinic in Arizona.

“Days after this tragedy occurred, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed wanted to express her deep sadness regarding this tragedy and the death of Halyna, to the Hutchins family,” the sentencing memo says. “Legal proceedings and the looming investigation, however, made that impossible. Though she exercised her constitutional right to a jury trial, it did not mean that she didn’t and doesn’t still feel incredibly saddened and heartbroken by what happened on that tragic day on the Rust set. The tragic series of events that unfolded that day destroyed and altered many people’s lives, including Ms. Gutierrez’s Reed’s.”

This story originally posted April 10, 7:09 p.m. and has been updated to reflect that GoFundMe shut down the fundraiser.

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