The shooter of “Rust“, on which a filmmaker was accidentally killed by actor Alec Baldwin, filed a complaint Wednesday against the supplier of the ammunition used for this western, accusing 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 with a court in New Mexico, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed accuses the supplier, Seth Kenney, of having supplied to the production of “Rust” from “ammunition that was incorrectly presented as dummy ammunition“, therefore inert and devoid of powder,”while they contained both dummy and live ammunition“.
“A certain carelessness on this plateau”
According to the account given by the gunsmith in her complaint, the police discovered after the tragedy “seven balls“suspected to be 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, unbeknownst to Hannah Gutierrez-Reed“.
Their faulty negligence has “resulted in the introduction of live ammunition onto the set, resulting in a predictable disaster“, insists the complaint, which 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 “that there was a certain carelessness on this plateau“.
For his part, Alec Baldwin, also producer of the western, ensures that he did not pull the trigger of the revolver he had in hand when the shot was fired. Although very saddened by the death of Halyna Hutchins, he said he felt neither guilty nor even “responsible“of his death.