Armorer sues supplier over death on movie set

NEW MEXICO

The armorer on the set of “Rust” sued the film’s ammunition supplier, accusing him of leaving real bullets among the dummy cartridges, resulting in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was the armorer in charge of weapons on a movie set where actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot Halyna Hutchins after being told his firearm was safe.

Film industry safety rules completely prohibit live ammunition on sets, precisely to avoid such an accident.

In her civil suit filed on Jan. 12, Gutierrez-Reed accused supplier Seth Kenney of providing the production of “Rust” with ammunition that was “misrepresented as only dummy ammunition,” meaning it had no gunpowder and was inert, “when it contained both dummy and live ammunition.”

Gutierrez-Reed said police had discovered seven bullets suspected of being live after the tragedy.

They were distributed among a box of cartridges, a cart with other ammunition and cartridge belts intended for the actors to use as accessories.

The armorer believes that Kenney and his company “created a dangerous condition on the movie set.”

Their negligence “caused live rounds to be introduced on set, resulting in a foreseeably catastrophic outcome,” the lawsuit said, seeking damages but without specifying the amount.