Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on set of “Rust,” is suing the film’s ammo supplier, Seth Kenney and PDQ Arm and Prop, while further claiming that she could have prevented the fatal accident that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins if she was allowed in to the rehearsal space.
Gutierrez-Reed in her lawsuit, filed Wednesday by her attorney Jason Bowles in New Mexico’s Second Judicial District Court, alleged that he supplied “Rust” with a mix of live rounds and dummy rounds that led to the accident on set. She also suggests that Kenney had access to the set and knew the code to the gun safe. She’s seeking a jury trial.
“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 lawsuit reads. “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.”
In speaking with the police in October, Kenney suggested he had an idea where the live rounds may have come from and was cooperating with authorities when a new search warrant was issued to investigate an ammo can that may have been present at PDQ Arm and Prop and could have matched ammunition that was used in the accident. However, he has denied in an interview with ABC News that the live rounds came from him and that all rounds are rattle tested before being sent to film sets.
Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers have also previously asserted that the film set may have been sabotaged. Gutierrez-Reed’s father, Thell Reed, also previously defended his daughter that she “would’ve found” a live round in the gun.
And Gutierrez-Reed also pointed some blame at Alec Baldwin and assistant director Dave Halls without naming them in the suit, saying that she was not able to provide proper training for Baldwin to practice the cross draw with the weapon.
“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,” the suit reads. “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.”
Kenney via a number listed for PDQ Arm and Prop did not return a request for comment.
An investigation into the death of Hutchins from October remains ongoing into how live rounds appeared on the set.