'Rust' gaffer, who held Halyna Hutchins in his ‘arms while she was dying,' returns to LA after on-set tragedy
Serge Svetnoy recently paid tribute to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot on the 'Rust' set
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Serge Svetnoy, a gaffer for the film "Rust," has returned to Los Angeles after a tragic on-set shooting left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead.
The incident occurred on Thursday in New Mexico when star Alec Baldwin discharged a firearm he was told was "cold" or "unloaded" during rehearsal. A projectile was fired, striking both Hutchins and director Joel Souza, who obtained injuries but has since been released from the hospital.
Svetnoy took to social media over the weekend to pay tribute to Hutchins and revealed that he "was holding her in [his] arms while she was dying."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Now, the electrician has returned to Los Angeles.
He was seen wearing a black North Face tracksuit with dark glasses and his hair tied up in a bun. Svetnoy also wore jewelry on both hands for his outing in California.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In his touching Facebook post, Svetnoy recalled working with Hutchins on "almost all of her films," sometimes even sharing food and water with one another.
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"Yes, I was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Halyna during this fatal shot that took her life and injured the director Joel Souza," he wrote alongside a picture of himself and his former colleague sitting together. "I was holding her in my arms while she was dying. Her blood was on my hands."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He claimed Hutchins' death is "the fault of negligence and unprofessionalism."
"The negligence from the person who was supposed to check the weapon on the site did not do this; the person who had to announce that the loaded gun was on the site did not do this; the person who should have checked this weapon before bringing it to the set did not do it," he continued. "And the DEATH OF THE HUMAN IS THE RESULT!"
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He added: "I’m sure that we had the professionals in every department, but one – the department that was responsible for the weapons. There is no way a twenty-four-year-old woman can be a professional with armory; there is no way that her more-or-less the same-aged friend from school, neighborhood, Instagram, or God knows where else, can be a professional in this field."
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Svetnoy then mentions the film's producers directly.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I understand that you always fight for the budget, but you cannot allow this to happen. There should always be at least one professional in each department who knows the job. It is an absolute must to avoid such a tragedy, like the tragedy with Halyna," he stated.
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Finally, Svetnoy mentions Baldwin.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I do not wish anyone to go through what I went through, what her husband @Matt Hutchins and her son Andros went through, and the actor Alec Baldwin, who has been handed a gun on set. He has to live with the thought that he took the life of the human because of unprofessional people."
Production on "Rust" has been suspended until the investigation is over, Fox News confirmed on Monday.
Fox News' Jessica Napoli contributed to this report