Armorer's attorney alleges possible 'sabotage' on 'Rust' set as crew points blame for shooting

SANTA FE, N.M. -- In the nearly two weeks since the fatal "Rust" movie set shooting involving Alec Baldwin, members of the crew, production and attorneys are pointing the finger at who and what is to blame for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Jason Bowles, who represents "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, alleged on "Good Morning America" Wednesday that he's afraid "somebody intended to sabotage" the set, while the former head of the movie's camera department told "GMA" that he quit production the day before the shooting, partially citing firearms safety concerns for his resignation.

Authorities said "Rust" assistant director David Halls handed the weapon to Baldwin and announced "cold gun," indicating that the weapon was safe to use. The set's firearms specialist, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, was in charge of weapons on the movie set. Bowles said that Reed didn't know where the live rounds came from and blamed producers for unsafe working conditions.

The investigation into how Hutchins was killed and how director Joel Souza was wounded during production of the Western in New Mexico is ongoing, and authorities have said much work needs to be done before getting to a point where charges could be considered.

Law enforcement officials in New Mexico said they suspect a real bullet was loaded in the antique revolver used in a movie-set shooting by actor Alec Baldwin that killed the film's cinematographer and wounded its director.

Gutierrez Reed's allegations

Bowles said his client loaded the prop gun with dummy rounds before her lunch break on Oct. 21 and gave the gun to assistant director David Halls.

"She did spin the cylinder. She showed Mr. Halls each of the rounds. There were six dummy rounds that she had loaded into that firearm that she believed had been dummy rounds. She did spin it. She did check it by spinning it," he said. "We then know he had the firearm in the church and that firearm then ended up with Mr. Baldwin."

Bowles reasserted that Gutierrez Reed does not know how live rounds ended up on set.

"There was a box labeled 'dummy rounds' that Hannah had been pulling from, that [she] knew were dummy rounds. Somebody put that live round or live rounds in that box. When you do that, you can only have bad intentions because you're going to confuse the rounds if you're the armorer, and they appear very similar," he said.

When 'GMA" anchor Michael Strahan pressed Bowles on whether or not he believes a person intended for Gutierrez Reed to confuse live rounds for dummy rounds, he said they're afraid "that somebody intended to sabotage this set."

"Why would you do that other than to try to cause some incident on the set? We're not saying anybody had any intent [that] there was going to be a tragedy, a homicide. But they wanted to do something to cause a safety incident on set. That's what we believe happened," he said.

The attorney said the "biggest evidence" to support his allegation is the box labeled "dummy rounds" that contains live rounds.

SEE ALSO: 'Rust' armorer said loading blanks was 'scariest thing' during podcast interview prior to shooting

Investigators found around 500 rounds of ammunition -- a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and suspected live rounds -- but Bowles said real ammo should never have been present.

"She didn't have live rounds. She didn't purchase any of this ammunition," he said.

Bowles also denied reports that crew members used the prop gun from the set for live target practice.

"She trained Alec Baldwin one-on-one on a day and did her best to ensure nobody ever pointed a firearm at anybody on the set. That was one of her things: don't point it at a human being. But she did her best on that. She never saw anybody target practicing," he said.

Bowles said Gutierrez Reed, the set's propmaster and another assistant were the only crew members with access to guns, but the ammunition was not locked in a safe.

Gutierrez Reed, the 24-year old daughter of veteran film armorer Thell Reed, had enough experience to handle firearms, Bowles said, and he alleged that production "didn't give the resources" and emphasized "profitability over safety."

Head of cameras speaks out

Lane Luper, a crew member on the movie set of "Rust," had quit and left the production the day before the fatal shooting.