Ammo supplier says he provided no live rounds in fatal shooting of cinematographer by Alec Baldwin
SANTA FE, N.M. — An ammunition supplier testified at trial Monday that it only supplied inert dummy rounds for the Western film “Rust,” in which actor Alex Baldwin fatally shot a cameraman in 2021, although he also provided live rounds from another production at the time.
Seth Kenney, an Albuquerque supplier of movie firearms and ammunition, took the stand during the trial of movie gunmaker Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence in the death of cinema tagropher Halyna Hutchins.
Kenney told a jury that he cleaned and repackaged ammunition for ‘Rust’, which had previously been delivered to a production in Texas, and that on October 12, 2021, he handed over a box of 50 inert dummy bullets with no weapon power to the ‘Rust ‘props supervisor.
Kenney also said he scrubbed the outside of the bullets and cleaned the residue inside each one to ensure that the telltale rattle of a metal pellet in the dummy bullets was audible for safety reasons.
The outcome of the trial could hinge on testimony about the source of six live bullets discovered on the “Rust” set — including that from Baldwin’s gun. Live ammunition is expressly prohibited on film sets per industry and union guidelines.
Prosecutors say Gutierrez-Reed is responsible for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set and that she ignored basic safety protocols for handling weapons. She has pleaded not guilty.
Defense attorneys say their client is being smeared and unfairly scapegoated over issues beyond her control, including Baldwin’s handling of the guns. On Monday, they highlighted images of Kenney’s “messy” business, a storage system with no written inventories, and Kenney’s “fuzzy” memory of his timeline for receiving live rounds for another production.
Baldwin, the star and co-producer of “Rust,” was separately indicted by a grand jury last month on charges of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal shooting of Hutchins. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial is scheduled for July.
Baldwin pointed the gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on set outside Santa Fe when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
In Monday’s testimony, Kenney said he provided “Rust” props master Sarah Zachry, who also managed the guns and ammunition for the production, with dummy ammunition he retrieved from a prop storage cart on the Texas set of the television series ‘1883 ‘.
“Have you ever given live ammunition to Sarah Zachry?” Prosecutor Kari Morrissey asked Kenney. He replied, “No.”
In response to additional questions, Kenney said Monday that there was no ammunition resembling the live rounds investigators found on the set of “Rust.”
At the same time, Kenney acknowledged stockpiling live rounds used in a live ammunition target practice for actors in “1883,” staged at a private ranch owned by series creator Taylor Sheridan.
Kenney said the live rounds from that target practice were returned to his shop, stored in a bathroom in a gray plastic container with “live rounds” written on the outside.
The live rounds were initially provided until “1883” by Gutierrez-Reed’s stepfather, Hollywood sharpshooter and weapons consultant Thell Reed.
Investigators from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office searched Kenney’s supply store in Albuquerque several weeks after the fatal shooting, seizing live rounds that had been sent to the FBI for analysis and comparison with live rounds discovered on the set of “Rust.”
Attorney Jason Bowles has argued that Kenney was not properly investigated for his role as a “Rust” supplier. Bowles on Monday emphasized the fact that the search of Kenney’s business took place about a month after the fatal shooting.
Kenney’s testimony also addressed his disagreements with Gutierrez-Reed over her job performance on the set of ‘Rust’ in connection with a botched shooting – prior to the fatal shooting.