Police Get Tip About Live Ammo From The Father Of ‘Rust’ Armorer

Santa Fe Police have a new lead in the investigation Hayla Hutchins’ firearms death on the set of Rust.

A new search warrant revealed that “armorer mentor” Seth Kenney was in possession of live Colt .45 ammunition, the same kind used in the long barrel Colt .45 fired by Alec Baldwin.

Thell Reed – father of Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed – contacted police on November 15th to tell them about possibly hundreds of rounds of live ammunition that Kenny took from him earlier this year to train actors on another production.

Thell, who has been a weapons consultant and armorer on films including and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Cowboys & Aliens, 3:10 to Yuma, and Grindhouse, told investigators, “This ammunition may match the ammunition found on the set of “Rust.”

Gutierrez-Reed's attorney shared a statement with Deadline Tuesday (Nov. 30th), saying, “The Sheriff’s Office has taken a huge step forward today to unearth the full truth of who put the live rounds on the Rust set, by executing a search warrant on PDQ Arm & Prop, owned by Armorer-Mentor, Seth Kenney. We trust that the FBI will now compare and analyze the “live rounds” seized from the set to evidence seized in the search warrant to conclusively determine where the live rounds came from. In keeping with the early findings and concerns of our own internal investigation, which were echoed by a detailed report in the LA Times, we also hope that there will be further investigation into the important detail about a new ammunition box seen on set the day of the shooting. The questions of who introduced the live rounds onto the set and why are the central questions in the case. Today’s warrant is a major step towards answering those questions and we commend the Sheriff’s Office and their lead investigator on their continuing tireless work to find the truth.”