The armorer on the set of “Rust” on Wednesday sued Seth Kenney, the man who supplied ammunition to the production, alleging that he provided a mix of dummy rounds and live bullets, creating the hazard that led to the death of the film’s cinematographer.
Hannah Gutierrez Reed filed the suit in New Mexico under the state’s unfair trade practices law. In the complaint, her attorneys spelled out her version of the events of Oct. 21, when actor Alec Baldwin fired a shot that killed Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.
“Defendants distributed boxes of ammunition purporting to contain dummy rounds, but which contained a mix of dummy and live ammunition to the Rust production,” the suit states. “Hannah and the entire Rust movie crew relied on the Defendants’ misrepresentation that they provided only dummy ammunition. In so doing, Defendants created a dangerous condition on the movie set, unbeknownst to Hannah Gutierrez Reed, which caused a foreseeable risk of injury to numerous people.”
Kenney, who owns PDQ Arm & Prop in Albuquerque, has previously described to investigators how dummy rounds may have become mixed with “reloaded” rounds that contained live bullets. The live rounds would have had the Starline Brass logo, making them appear similar to dummy rounds.
However, in a subsequent interview with ABC News, Kenney contradicted that statement, flatly denying that the live rounds came from him.
“It’s not a possibility that they came from PDQ or from myself personally,” he said, saying that rounds are individually rattle-tested before they are sent out to film sets.
The suit accuses Kenney of trying to shift blame for the live rounds to Gutierrez Reed.
“Seth took it upon himself to essentially investigate this matter for the Sheriff’s Office and insert himself into this matter and attempt to implicate Hannah,” the suit alleges.
Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys have previously alleged that someone may have sabotaged the set, though they have provided little backing for that claim.
Investigators with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office are continuing to look into how the live rounds made it onto the set.