RUST’S on-set armorer sued the movie’s ammunition supplier yesterday, accusing him of leaving real bullets among the dummy cartridges, resulting in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was in charge of weapons on the movie set in New Mexico, where actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot Halyna Hutchins in October 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 in a New Mexico court yesterday, Gutierrez-Reed accused supplier Seth Kenney of providing the production with ammunition “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 discovered seven bullets suspected of being live after the tragedy, according to case documents.

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

The armorer and her lawyers believe that Kenney and his company “created a dangerous condition on the movie set, unbeknownst to Hannah Gutierrez-Reed”.

Their negligence “caused live rounds to be introduced on set, resulting in a foreseeably catastrophic outcome”, said the suit, seeking damages of an unspecified amount.

Kenney told investigators he may have potentially sold the film production home-made ammunition, made from recycled components, marked with a logo that matched the one on the fatal round.

But he later ruled out that possibility during an interview with ABC.

Baldwin was brandishing a Colt gun during a rehearsal for the film when it discharged a live round, killing Hutchins.

Investigators have yet to file criminal charges over the tragedy, and refused to rule out charges against anyone involved, including Baldwin.

In his first major interview since the shooting, Baldwin last month said he had been told that the gun contained no live ammunition, and instructed by Hutchins to point the gun in her direction as she prepared to film the scene.

Baldwin told ABC he does not feel guilty for the death, adding that he had started cocking the gun when the bullet fired, but did not pull the trigger. – AFP, January 13, 2022.