Ammo supplier says he provided no live rounds in fatal shooting of cinematographer by Baldwin
SANTA FE, N.M. — An ammunition supplier testified at trial Monday that he only provided inert dummy rounds to the Western film “Rust” where actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer in 2021, though he also was handling live rounds from another production at that time.
Albuquerque-based movie firearms and ammunition supplier Seth Kenney took the stand at the trial of “Rust” movie armorer Hannah GutierrezReed, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the death of cinematagropher Halyna Hutchins.
Kenney told a jury he cleaned and repackaged ammunition to “Rust” that was previously supplied to a production in Texas, handing off a box of 50 inert dummy rounds containing no gunpowder to the “Rust” props supervisor Oct. 12, 2021.
Kenney also said he scrubbed the exterior of the rounds and cleaned out residue inside in each of them to ensure the telltale rattle of a metal pellet inside dummy rounds could be heard for safety purposes.
The outcome of trial may hinge on testimony about the source of six live rounds discovered on the “Rust” set — including the one from Baldwin’s gun. Live ammunition is expressly prohibited on movie sets by the industry and union guidelines.
Prosecutors say Gutierrez-Reed is to blame for unwittingly bringing live ammunition on set and that she flouted basic safety protocols for weapons handling. She has pleaded not guilty.
Defense attorneys said their client is being smeared and unfairly scapegoated for problems beyond her control, including Baldwin’s handling of the weapons. On Monday, they highlighted images of Kenney’s “cluttered” business, a storage system without written inventories, and Kenney’s “hazy” recollection of his timeline for receiving live rounds for another production.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on “Rust,” was separately indicted by a grand jury last month on an involuntary manslaughter charge in connection with the fatal shooting of Hutchins. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is scheduled for July.
Baldwin was pointing the gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on the set outside of Santa Fe when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
In Monday’s testimony, Kenney said he provided “Rust” props master Sarah Zachry, who also managed weapons and ammunition for the production, with dummy ammunition retrieved from a props storage truck on the Texas set of the television series “1883.”
“Did you ever give any live ammunition to Sarah Zachry?” prosecutor Kari Morrissey asked Kenney. He responded, “No.”
Responding to additional questions, Kenney said Monday that he didn’t have any ammunition that looked like the live rounds investigators found on the set of “Rust.”
At the same time, Kenney acknowledged he stored live rounds that were used in a live ammunition shooting exercise for actors on “1883,” arranged at a private ranch of series creator Taylor Sheridan.
Kenney said the live rounds from that shooting exercise were brought back to his shop, stored in a bathroom within a gray plastic container marked “live rounds” on the outside.
The live rounds were initially provided to “1883” by Gutierrez-Reed’s stepfather, the Hollywood sharp shooter and weapons consultant Thell Reed.