A new lawsuit accused an ammunition supplier Wednesday of creating dangerous conditions on a movie set where a gun held by actor Alec Baldwin killed a cinematographer, by including live ammunition in a box that was supposed to include only dummy rounds.
The lawsuit was filed in New Mexico state district court by Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the armorer who oversaw firearms, ammunition and related training on the set of “Rust” along with two colleagues. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died on Oct. 21 from a gunshot wound during a “Rust” rehearsal at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe in northern New Mexico.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office that is leading an investigation into the cause of the death has said it is too soon to determine whether charges will be filed. Investigators have described “some complacency” in how weapons were handled on set.
The lawsuit from Gutierrez Reed places blame on ammunition supplier Seth Kenney and his company PDQ Arm & Prop for introducing live rounds to the set where only blanks and dummies were supposed to be present.
“The introduction of live rounds onto the set, which no one anticipated, combined with the rushed and chaotic atmosphere, created a perfect storm for a safety incident,” the lawsuit states.
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Contacted by NBC News on Wednesday, an attorney for Kenney declined to comment. He has said previously that he was sure his company did not send any live rounds to the set of “Rust," according to The Associated Press.
The lawsuit adds new alleged details to the chain of custody for guns and ammunition on the “Rust” set on Oct. 21, describing the appearance of a new box of ammunition — presumed to be harmless dummy rounds with no explosive — shortly before a revolver was loaded and passed to Baldwin.
Baldwin has said he didn’t know the gun he was holding contained a live round when it went off while pointed at Hutchins. Investigators are trying to find where the live round came from, searching the Albuquerque premises of PDQ Arm & Prop in December.
Authorities have issued a search warrant for Baldwin’s phone, seeking text messages, images, videos, calls or any other information related to the movie.
Aaron Dyer, Baldwin's attorney, told NBC News that the actor has agreed to turn his phone over to Santa Fe authorities for review and was finalizing "logistics."
"Ever since this tragic incident, Mr. Baldwin has continued to cooperate with the authorities, and any suggestion to the contrary is simply untrue," Dyer said. "We requested that the authorities obtain a warrant so that we could protect his privacy on other matters unrelated to Rust and have been working through that process."
The new lawsuit seeks damages at a jury trial on allegations of unfair trade practices, introducing dangerous products, and false labels and misrepresentation.
It states that authorities found on set “a suspected seven live rounds distributed inside the ammo box, on the ammo cart and in the bandoliers.”
Authorities recovered hundreds of rounds of ammunition at the “Rust” movie set — a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and what appeared to be live rounds.
