Armorer in fatal ‘Rust’ movie shooting sues prop supplier

The film set of “Rust”, where Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer and wounded a director when he discharged a prop gun in Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S., October 23, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt

Jan 12 (Reuters) – The armorer overseeing weapons used in the filming of the Western “Rust” sued the prop supplier on Wednesday, alleging his company distributed live ammunition on the set where police say actor Alec Baldwin fired a round that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, 24, is seeking unspecified damages from prop provider Seth Kenney and his company, PDQ Arm and Prop LLC, according to the lawsuit filed in New Mexico state court.

Kenney could not be reached for comment. In a December interview with ABC News, Kenney denied that live rounds on set came from his company.

The Oct. 21 shooting is under investigation by authorities in New Mexico and has rocked show business, claiming the life of a rising star of a cinematographer and wounding the film’s director, Joel Souza.

Reed’s suit says she recalls loading the gun with rounds labeled as dummy ammunition, shaking the box to create the signature jingling sound that the inert rounds should make.

“To the best of Hannah’s knowledge, the gun was now loaded with 6 dummy rounds,” the suit said.

The suit also says she had given up control of the gun for 15 minutes before the shooting because COVID protocols kept her out of the church where the shooting took place. The shooting was not captured on film, as Baldwin was practicing for a scene to be shot later.

“The ammunition was misrepresented as only dummy ammunition when it contained both dummy and live ammunition,” the suit said. “Defendants distributed boxes of ammunition purporting to contain dummy rounds but which contained a mix of dummy and live ammunition to the Rust production.”

Baldwin told ABC News he did not pull the trigger, saying the Colt revolver went off when he was cocking the gun and rehearsing camera angles with Hutchins.

Reporting by Daniel Trotta. Editing by Gerry Doyle

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