The gunsmith of the filming of the western ‘Rust’, on which a filmmaker was accidentally killed by actor Alec Baldwin, filed a complaint against the ammunition supplier on Wednesday. She accuses him of having left live bullets in the middle of the dummy cartridges.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was the gunsmith in charge of this film set in New Mexico, where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally injured on October 21. She had been hit by a live bullet which was in the revolver presented to Alec Baldwin as a harmless weapon and which he activated while repeating a scene.
In accordance with the safety regulations in force in the film industry, live ammunition is totally prohibited on filming, precisely to prevent this kind of accident.
In her civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in a New Mexico court, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed criticizes supplier Seth Kenney for supplying ‘Rust’ production with ‘ammunition that was misrepresented as ammunition dummy ‘, therefore inert and devoid of powder,’ although they contained both dummy and real ammunition ‘.
No arrest
According to the account given by the gunsmith in her complaint, the police discovered after the tragedy ‘seven bullets’ suspected of being real. They were divided between a box of cartridges, a cart on which were other ammunition and cartridges intended to serve as accessories for the actors.
For the young gunsmith and her lawyers, Seth Kenney and his company ‘created dangerous conditions on the set’. She claims damages without specifying the amount.
Seth Kenney had indicated to investigators that he had potentially been able to sell to the production of the film hand-assembled ammunition – perhaps from recycled elements – whose logo corresponds to that appearing on the deadly cartridge. But he then formally ruled out this possibility in an interview with ABC.
No arrests have taken place at this stage, but justice has not ruled out possible criminal proceedings if responsibilities were established. The Santa Fe County Sheriff, who is overseeing the investigation, said “there was a certain carelessness on this plateau.”
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