The more we learn, the more we realize how much blame there is to go around in the tragic accidental shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. From a novice armorer to an assistant director bent on putting speed before safety to a production company (like so many “indie” operations in Hollywood) determined to cut corners at all costs. But one thing remains clear: Something has to change. 

Hutchins, 42, a rising star in a field with few women and the mother of a 9-year-old son, was shot after star and producer Alec Baldwin discharged what was believed to be a prop gun on the set of his new film, Rust, filming in New Mexico. His director, Joel Souza, 48, was injured.

The investigation into Hutchins’ death is now in the hands of Santa Fe County Sheriff Adam Mendoza, his team, and the FBI. Thursday, the sheriff told Today, the focus is on three people—Baldwin, assistant director Dave Halls, and 24-year-old Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. “Nobody’s been cleared as of yet,” Mendoza says. 

According to a search warrant affidavit, Baldwin was handed the gun by Halls, who says he got it from Gutierrez-Reed, who, in turn, assured investigators that no live ammunition was kept on the set. “I can say this, those two individuals are obviously the focus of the investigation,” Mendoza told Today. 

Mendoza’s team is now primarily focused on how live ammo ended up on the set and who brought it there. At a press conference Wednesday, Mendoza confirmed that his office determined that the fatal shot that killed Hutchins cam from a live bullet. It traveled through her body and into Souza’s shoulder. 

Halls told detectives he “could only remember seeing three rounds” in the gun when Gutierrez-Reed handed him the gun but could not remember if the armorer spun the barrel of the weapon, according to the affidavit. 

According to reporting from The Wrap, Gutierrez-Reed had a long list of complaints from work on past films. Just two months prior to Rust, Stu Brumbaugh, who served as key grip on the Nicolas Cage western The Old Way, says Gutierrez-Reed failed to follow basic gun safety rules, such as announcing the arrival and usage of guns onto the set. 

Brumbaugh says that after Gutierrez-Reed fired a gun near the cast and crew for the second time in three days, Cage stormed off the set after screaming at the young armorer, “Make an announcement, you just blew my f—ing eardrums out!”

Brumbaugh says he told the AD that she should be let go. “After the second round, I was pissed off. We were moving too fast. She’s a rookie,” he told The Wrap. 

Prop Master Neal W. Zoromski told The Los Angeles Times he was offered the gig on Rust but turned it down after getting a “bad feeling.” He added that there were “massive red flags” around the production.

Zoromski says he felt the film budget—$7 million—was too small, and he wasn’t getting the answers he wanted around the timeframe. He said that it takes weeks or months to hire a prop master, and they were talking to him just a couple of weeks before the shoot was scheduled to start.

Additionally, Zoromski asked the producers for five technicians but was told it was a “low-budget” production and they would use props from a local prop house. He then asked for two technicians, one as an assistant and the other as an armorer, but Rust producers insisted one person could do the job of both.

“You never have a prop assistant double as the armorer,” Zoromski told the Times. “Those are two really big jobs.”

Criminal charges are now on the table. Even without intent, charges could be made for “willful disregard” of the safety of others.

“We just can’t say that at this point because the investigation is not complete,” First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told Miguel Almaguer on TODAY Thursday. “We know mistakes happened. We’re not exactly sure who did, when they did, how they did it.”

In the end, what many are left asking is, why are real guns even still on sets? 

Democratic Senator Dave Cortese, chair of the Senate Labor Committee, says he’s planning to introduce legislation outlawing firearms and live ammunition on film sets in the future. 

“It is important that California establish new safety standards and best practices for all those who work in the industry and particularly in our own state,” he said. “Those working behind the scenes to entertain and bring joy to millions all over the world shouldn’t go to set worrying if they will return home safely to their family. Our entertainment industry must do a better job of ensuring safe working conditions for our hardworking crews.

“I intend to introduce legislation that would ban live ammunition on sets in California to prevent this type of senseless violence and loss of life,” he continued. “I offer my support in any way to the family of Ms. Halyna Hutchins during this time of tragic loss.”

Craig Zobel, the director of the Emmy-winning HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown, was one of the first in the industry to display his outrage. 

“There’s no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything on set anymore. Should just be fully outlawed,” Zobel tweeted early Friday. 

“There’s computers now. The gunshots on Mare of Easttown are all digital,” he added. “You can probably tell, but who cares? It’s an unnecessary risk.”

In the wake of Hutchins’ death, several in the film and television industry launched a petition to ban the use of real guns on sets. As of Thursday, the petition has garnered nearly 70,000 signatures.