Assistant Director Who Handed Alec Baldwin Loaded Weapon Had Safety Issues, Prior Crew Claims

The assistant director who handed Alec Baldwin the gun during the filming of “Rust” and told the actor the prop gun he was about to fire was safe has allegedly allowed an unsafe working environment on previous productions.

Propmaker Maggie Goll, who has previously worked with Dave Halls, claimed in a statement to NBC News that Halls “seemed like an older, affable first [A.D.] with the usual run of idiosyncrasies, but that facade soon disappeared.”

Goll shared her experience in 2019 working with Halls as the Assistant Director on Hulu’s “Into the Dark” series and said, “He did not maintain a safe working environment.”

“Sets were almost always allowed to become increasingly claustrophobic, no established fire lanes, exits blocked … safety meetings were nonexistent,” the statement continued.

Goll, an experienced special effects technician, and pyrotechnician said that in one incident on set, Halls tried to keep filming even after the lead pyrotechnician had suffered a medical emergency and the set had become unsafe.

Goll also alleged that Halls didn’t hold safety meetings when guns were used on the set.