There was an incredibly loud bang that was not like the half and quarter loads you hear on a set.

Those are sort of, they're loud proofs and pops this was deafening and I it felt like somebody had

taken a baseball bat to my shoulder. I remember that distinctly and sort of stumbling back and shouting I don't remember exactly what I said

That's Joel Susa a film director and screenwriter from San Francisco, California. But he's not giving an interview or making the rounds promoting his latest work. Instead, he's testifying on the stand in a very high-profile trial that took place in March

2024.

He's recalling a horrifying moment that occurred while on the set of his film Rust.

I remember initially thinking, had she been startled by it and they were sitting her down as a result and then I I saw the blood on her

back and when you were at the hospital did you have an understanding that you had been actually

shot by a bullet?

No.

No.

I mean, I knew something got me but they kept saying they kept talking about this bullet and I

it just could not compute for me I just kept saying you don't understand no no this was a movie set you know that's not

possible you don't get it and they kept saying no no no it is and I just keep

insisting you don't understand because this is not possible it's just not possible if there's a live round. It's not, it just can't.

And then they eventually, maybe grew tired of my protesting about it because they showed me the x-ray of my back and there was a very large bullet in it.

In 2021, cinematographer Halina Hutchins was shot and killed in an accidental shooting while on the set of rust, an independent

Western movie.

The first person to stand trial in connection to Helena's death was the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed.

24-year-old Hannah was supposed to load the gun with dummy ammunition for the film's

shooting, but somehow a live round was inside the gun and the gun went off an actor

Alec Baldwin's hands, killing Helena and wounding Joel Sousa, the director.

...