‘Rust’ armorer accuses supplier of selling her dummy ammunition mixed with live rounds before deadly on-set shooting
By Jenn Selva and Julia Jones, CNN
“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed is suing the movie’s gun and ammunition supplier following the on-set shooting that left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead.
In the complaint filed Wednesday in the Second Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Gutierrez Reed accuses PDQ Arm and Prop, LLC. and its founder Seth Kenney of violation of trade practices, false and deceptive product labels, and false and material misrepresentations after, Gutierrez Reed alleges, Kenney sold her a cache of dummy ammunition with live rounds mixed in.
Hutchins was fatally shot October 21 by actor Alec Baldwin during rehearsal for a scene in the movie being filmed at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe. Director Joel Souza was injured in the shooting.
The scene was going to show Baldwin cocking the gun, and he and Hutchins were going over how she wanted to position his hand right before the gun went off, the actor told ABC last month.
Kenney and his company “sold, distributed, and advertised its props as dummy ammunition and not live rounds,” the complaint said. “Hannah relied upon and trusted that Defendants would only supply dummy prop ammunition, or blanks, and no live rounds were ever to be on set.”
The complaint includes allegations that Kenney attempted to “direct” the criminal investigation into Hutchins’ death in a way that cast blame on Gutierrez Reed and included screenshots of text messages between the pair showing they had a “fallout.”
Gutierrez Reed also includes allegations in the suit that insinuate wrongdoing by several others involved in the set, including Baldwin, prop master Sarah Zachry and assistant director Dave Halls.
CNN has reached out to Zachry, PDQ Arm and Prop. LLC., Kenney, Baldwin, and an attorney for Halls for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Gutierrez Reed wasn’t called to re-inspect the gun, lawsuit says
The complaint includes a detailed timeline of Gutierrez Reed’s account of the day of the shooting, including the moments leading up to the church scene when the weapon fired.
Attorneys for Gutierrez Reed have previously theorized in interviews that there was “sabotage” behind the fatal discharge, and in the suit, they note a period of about five minutes when the gun was left unattended by Zachry and an assistant who had been tasked with watching it.
In the suit, Gutierrez Reed says she loaded six rounds into the gun herself and inspected the weapon in front of Halls, showing him the chamber loaded with what she believed were dummy rounds. Halls, in her account, said he would be “sitting in” with the gun, “meaning the gun wasn’t going to be used at all since this wasn’t a scene or rehearsal.”
Gutierrez Reed says Halls broke protocol by not calling her back to set when Baldwin arrived and took possession of the gun. The complaint states that she asked Halls to let her know when Baldwin came back so she could re-inspect the weapon.
“Her point was that if plans were to change for use of the gun to be more than just ‘sitting in’ status, Hannah needed to be called back into the Church,” the complaint reads.
The complaint also claims Baldwin never responded to Gutierrez Reed’s request to attend a “cross draw training” on October 15, days before the shooting.
“Had Hannah been called back in, she would have re-inspected the weapon, and every round again, and instructed Baldwin on safe gun practice with the cross draw, as was her standard practice on set,” according to the complaint.
“Hannah would never have let Baldwin point the weapon at Halyna, as part of standard safe gun practices. Apparently, no one inside the Church stopped Baldwin from doing so, including AD Halls,” the suit says.
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