The industry veteran father of the gunsmith “Rust” gives the police any crucial advice on the origin of the live rounds; Hannah Gutierrez-Reed admits she didn’t check the gun “too”

By Judy J. Beasley Last updated Dec 2, 2021

UPDATE with statement from Hannah Gutierrez-Reed) Santa Fe Police could be one step closer to finding out where the actual bullet was fired last month through Alec baldwin who killed Rust Director of Photography Halyna Hutchins came from.

In a fourth search warrant approved by a New Mexico judge, detectives revealed on Tuesday that the gunsmith Hannah gutierrez-Reed’s father, Thell Reed, contacted them on November 15 to tell them about possible hundreds of live ammunition that Rust “Gunsmith’s Mentor” Seth Kenney was assigned to him earlier this year. Kenney told Elder Reed to “write it off” when the veteran gunsmith and stuntman repeatedly inquired about the rounds.

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In two conversations with the sheriff’s office, Elder Reed revealed that he brought “about 200 to 300 rounds in the box … training actors on another production with Kenney.”

Thell Reed told police earlier this month “This ammunition may match the ammunition found on the set of Rust.“

Considered one of the best in the business, Elder Reed has served as a weapons consultant and gunsmith on films including Once upon a time in hollywood, Cowboys and aliens, 3:10 at Yuma, Mill and many more over the decades. This experience is one of the reasons the police act on his tip.

“The depositor is requesting that a search warrant be approved for the business of PDQ Arm & Prop, LLC, for the purpose of seeking any material of probative value which will assist in the ongoing investigation into the death of Halyna Hutching (sic ) on the set of Rust, filmed at Bonanza Creek Ranch ”, asks for the affidavit of Detective Alexandria Hancock (read it here).

The search warrant allows detectives to search the Albuquerque-based company and seize property deemed relevant to the investigation. The business, located in a mall, is owned by Kenney.

According to Gutierrez-Reed, as stated in today’s warrant, Kenney “provided ammunition and weapons to all of Rust.The document goes on to say that “the depositor learned that the firearms and ammunition were collected from either Hannah’s or Sarah’s (Zachery, prop master) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from PDQ Arm and Prop, LLC .

Police spoke to Zachery immediately after the October 21 shooting, when the team member said “Ammunition for Rust came from a variety of sources including Seth Kenney, some Hannah from a previous production and additional cartridges of an identified individual. like “Billy Ray”.

Previous search warrants executed by police at Bonanza Creek Ranch have found a number of weapons and, according to Sheriff Adan Mendoza, “500 rounds of ammunition… a mixture of blank cartridges, dummy cartridges and what we suspect to be live cartridges. “

There are no details in today’s documents about who “Billy Ray” is. However, there is a growing amount of information about Kenney, who was brought aboard the $ 7 million indie western to support relative newbie Gutierrez-Reed.

Named as a defendant in the two lawsuits which have already been filed in the Rust Tragedy, gun specialist Kenney has become a central figure in the cops investigation, alongside gunsmith Gutierrez-Reed and senior assistant director Dave Halls. Like star producer Baldwin, Gutierrez-Reed and Halls have hired defense attorneys as the move to the courts accelerates.

During a “call” with the police on Oct. 29, Kenney brought up a theory of “reloaded ammunition” that “a friend” gave him a few years ago. The ammunition in question bore a particular logo representing “a star, an arch, then another star” corresponding to that of the large dealer Starline Brass. “He described how the company only sells ammunition components, not live ammunition, so it had to be a reloaded cartridge,” the seven-page warrant notes.

The latest warrant also shows more details of talks between the Santa Fe sheriff’s office and Gutierrez-Reed following the fatal shooting at the Bonanza Creek ranch site more than five weeks ago. Specifically, while explaining how the guns on the set were handled and stored on that terrible day, Gutierrez-Reed “stated that the guns were checked on the set, but she did not have it. really too checked (the gun), because of it being locked up at lunch.

Kept frequently out of the church site due to what she told detectives to be “COVID precautions,” the gunsmith previously explained how she handed the 1880s pistol to Halls, who then took in and gave it to Baldwin after he exclaimed “cold gun.” Practicing a “quick draw” motion during rehearsal, Baldwin pulled the trigger, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

With several members of the film crew having resigned in writing for financial and security reasons just hours before filming, there were at least two other incidents of weapons being mistakenly discharged on the Rust takes place before the fatal shootout, as confirmed by assistant / gunsmith Gutierrez-Reed and others.

Halls admitted to the sheriff’s office that he did not properly verify the gun in question before giving it to Baldwin. As Deadline reported on October 25, Halls was fired from a previous movie due to gun safety breaches and was not rehired for personal misconduct complaints on a 2019 Blumhouse TV project.

Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer brought up a theory of “sabotage” in the media to explain the shooting that claimed Hutchins’ life. Discredited by the Santa Fe DA, the theory is based on the premise that something devious may have been connected to the mass film crew’s exit earlier in the day.

Today, the gunsmith’s lawyer released a statement from his client on the latest turning point in the investigation with his father’s advice and the new search warrant:

The Sheriff’s Office took a big step forward today to uncover the full truth about the perpetrator of the rounds live on the Rust Set, by executing a search warrant on PDQ Arm & Prop, owned by the gunsmith. -mentor, Seth Kenney. We hope that the FBI will now compare and analyze the “live ammunition” seized as a whole with the evidence seized in the search warrant to conclusively determine where the live ammunition came from. In line with the initial findings and concerns of our own internal investigation, which were echoed by a detailed report in the LA Times, we also hope that further investigation will be conducted into the important details regarding a new ammunition box seen on set. the day of the shooting. The questions of who brought the live tours to the set and why are the central issues in the case. Today’s warrant is a major step towards answering these questions and we commend the Sheriff’s Office and its lead investigator for their tireless work in finding the truth.

As lawsuits mount, the Hutchins family have retained their own lawyers (specializing in wrongful deaths) and the police investigation continues. No one was arrested or charged during the Rust filming.

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