Rust Investigators Finally Reveal Who Let Live Ammo Onto The Set

The entertainment world is still reeling from the tragedy that took place in New Mexico on October 21, 2021. On that date, actor Alec Baldwin fired a gun with what he suspected to be a blank round, only for it actually to be live ammunition. The burst killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. Since then, an investigation has taken place to determine who's ultimately at fault for Hutchins's death. The goal, of course, is to bring some semblance of closure to the young talent's family and ensure nothing like this happens on a film production ever again. 

Usually, live rounds would be forbidden to get close to anywhere near a movie set. The fact they ended up on stage and inside a gun with the blank rounds is an immense cause for concern and has been a focal point for authorities looking into the incident. Now, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office believes they have information on what went down behind the scenes that led to the tragedy.

A new report published by Variety details the new information received by the Sheriff's Office. It all comes down to weapons expert Seth Kenney, who was on the set of "Rust" during production. He supplied the guns for the filming, and on October 29, it's reported that he told investigators how he received ammunition from a friend that happened to have the same logo as the blank rounds he generally uses for movie shoots. The search warrant affidavit states, "Seth described how a couple years back, he received 'reloaded ammunition' from a friend. Seth described the ammunition stuck out to him due to the suspected live round to have (sic) a cartridge with the Starline Brass logo on it ... He described how the company only sells components of ammunition, and not live ammunition, and therefore it had to be a reloaded round."

The affidavit also includes new details concerning 24-year-old armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who worked on the "Rust" set. Previous testimony revealed that first assistant director Dave Halls acknowledged that he did not properly inspect the Colt .45 revolver Baldwin used before handing it to the actor. Expect more details of this case to emerge in the coming weeks.