SANTA FE, N.M. (NewsNation Now) —Investigators in New Mexico are looking into new possible leads to determine how live ammunition wound up on the fatal “Rust” movie set shooting in October that involved actor Alec Baldwin.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday searched the premises of PDQ Arm & Prop, an Albuquerque-based firearms and ammunition supplier, which supplied the guns for the “Rust” movie set.
According to the search warrant, the company owner, Seth Kenney, told investigators in late October that he “may know” where live rounds came from, describing ammunition he received from a friend in the past that had been “reloaded” by assembly from parts.
The warrant specifically looked at any ammunition, live or spent, with the logo “Starline Brass.” It also looked into any gun cleaning equipment and any documents related to items provided to the production.
A revolver fired by Baldwin during a “Rust” rehearsal Oct. 21 killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and left a projectile lodged in the shoulder of director Joel Souza for doctors to remove later. Baldwin was told the revolver was “cold” and had no live rounds, investigators say.
The New York Times reported Kenney was added to the film’s crew in September, listed as an “armorer mentor.” According to the affidavit from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, police also interviewed Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s father, Thell Reed, who said he worked on another movie with Kenney a few months earlier.
Reed is the father of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was the armorer on the ‘Rust’ movie set.
Reed said the actors were trained for using “live fire,” conducted at a firearms range. Reed also said Kenney had asked him to bring live ammo in the event they ran out of what was supplied. Reed said it included .45 caliber colt ammo, which he never got back.
After several attempts to get it back from Kenney, Kenney told [him] to “write it off,” but Reed eventually told investigators the rounds might match the ones found on the set.
Gutierrez-Reed also reported having trouble cleaning and loading the rounds into the revolver both before the on-set lunch break and after the break.
Jason Bowles, an attorney for Gutierrez-Reed, called the search for evidence in Albuquerque a huge step forward toward determining the source of ammunition on the “Rust” set.
