Rust shooting investigation turned to proposed supplier

A new search warrant from the Santa Fe sheriff’s department focuses on the owner of a prop company that may have been the source of the real bullet that led to the deadly shooting on the set of Journey to the West. Rust.

Alec Baldwin, the star and producer of the film, is hold a gun to defend when it came out on October 21, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring the writer-director Joel Souza. But investigative documents show Baldwin was told it was an unarmed “cold gun” and the focus of the investigation was on the assistant director. Dave Halls, who gave Baldwin the gun and said it was clear, and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who had prepared props that turned out to be loaded with a live round.

One long-standing question is: How did that deadly bullet get into the set of a movie where there should be only fake bullets?

The search warrant affidavit filed by the police department suggests it may have been introduced through Albuquerque-based PDQ Arm & Prop and its owners. Seth Kenney.

According to new documents, Gutierrez-Reed told investigators that Kenney provided ammunition and weapons to Rust manufacture. (The movie’s supporting master, Sarah Zachry, reported that ammunition also came from a variety of sources, including Gutierrez-Reed and another individual identified only as “Billy Ray.”) About a week after the shooting, the document said, Kenney said. told investigators that “he probably knew where the live shot came from. Seth described how a few years back he received ‘reloaded bullets’ from a friend. ”

The cartridge is a used copper casing that is recycled — refilled with powder and attached to a slug bullet — to create another bullet.

The search warrant’s affidavit says Kenney told investigators “ammunition was attached to the person on suspicion of live ammunition [having] a cartridge with the Starline Brass logo on it.… He describes how the company only sells components of ammunition, not real ammunition, so it must be a reloaded batch. ”

On November 17, Gutirrez-Reed’s father, Thell Reed, a longtime filmmaker, told investigators that during live-fire training with the actors in the previous film, he had brought along a cartridge of live ammunition for Kenney to use while they were at shooting range with performers. “He said the can still had .45 colt caliber ammunition in it” “not factory made”. He said he wanted to get the bullets back but Kenney kept them.

“Thell claims this ammunition can match those found on land Rust,The affidavit of the search warrant said.

The order, approved by a judge Tuesday, requires access to Kenney’s corporate office, but there’s yet to be any indication of what might have been found there. A call to Kenney’s corporate headquarters in Lake Havasu, AZ, went unanswered and the voicemail service said it was full.

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