The 'Rust' chief electrician attacked the inexperience of the movie's 24-year-old armorer after Halyna Hutchins was shot dead, saying she was hired to save money

• Serge Svetnoy criticized lax safety standards around Halyna Hutchin's death.
• He appeared to lash out at Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the movie's armorer, without naming her.

The chief electrician for "Rust" lashed out at lax gun safety on set, casting doubt on the experience of the movie's armorer and suggest she was hired to "save a dime."

Serge Svetnoy posted a damning statement to Facebook on Sunday, mourning cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Hutchins was killed on set on October 21 when a gun handed to the movie's lead actor, Alec Baldwin, discharged.

Police are still investigating the full circumstances of the shooting. In his post, Svetnoy alleged that the film's producers cut corners, calling Hutchins' death "the fault of negligence and unprofessionalism."

The movie's armorer, 24-year-old Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has come under particular scrutiny since the shooting. Armorers are meant to oversee the use of firearms on set and avoid accidents.

Svetnoy's post did not name her, but said: "There is no way a twenty-four-year-old woman can be a professional with armory," he wrote, adding that the job requires years of dedication.

"Professionals are the people who have spent years on sets, people who know this job from A to Z; These are the people who have the safety on set at the level of reflexes," he wrote.

Svetnoy is not the first to question Gutierrez-Reed's experience, including the armorer herself.

In September, Gutierrez-Reed had said on the "Voices of the West" podcast that she had not been sure she had been "ready" to take on the job on an earlier shoot for "The Old Way." It was her first job as head armorer.

Unnamed sources from the set of "The Old Way" also raised concerns that she was "a bit careless," saying she had handed a gun to a child without properly checking it, The Daily Beast reported.

But "The Old Way"'s prop manager Jeffrey W. Crow - Gutierrez-Reed's former manager - told the LA Times he had been impressed by her professionalism despite initial doubts.

Gutierrez-Reed is the daughter of veteran movie armorer Thell Reed, which Crow said also helped put his mind at ease about working with her.

Svetnoy also talked about "a person" who he said neglected key weapons safety measures.

"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 wrote.

The remarks appear aimed at Gutierrez-Reed or potentially Rust's assistant director Dave Halls, who, per numerous reports and an affidavit from a sheriff's deputy, handed the gun to Baldwin.

Halls has also been the subject of numerous reports of lax safety standards.

Svetnoy urged movie producers not to cut costs over on-set safety.

"To save a dime sometimes, you hire people who are not fully qualified for the complicated and dangerous job, and you risk the lives of the other people who are close and your lives as well," he wrote. "I understand that you always fight for the budget, but you cannot allow this to happen."

"No saved penny is worth the LIFE of the person!" he wrote.

Gutierrez-Reed was unavailable for comment.