As a seasoned investigator with years of experience under my belt, I find myself drawn to the intricate web of events that unfolded around the tragic shooting on the set of “Rust”. The inconsistencies and discrepancies in the testimony, coupled with the seemingly suspicious actions of certain individuals, paint a picture that is far from clear.
Ever since law enforcement arrived at the New Mexico film set where the Rust shooting took place, figuring out how the live ammunition ended up there became a crucial part of the investigation. For years, the prosecution believed that it was highly probable that the rounds came from armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March.
However, when an individual claiming to be a good Samaritan presented conflicting evidence, leading to the sudden collapse of the case against Alec Baldwin, attention once more fell on Seth Kenney – proprietor of a props and arms company providing ammunition and firearms for the Rust set. A crime scene analyst’s testimony suggested that recently discovered ballistics data pointed towards potential matching rounds to the one that hit cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin’s legal team argued that the ammunition found on set suggests Kenney played a role in bringing live bullets to the location, and they claim it was intentionally withheld from them.
A retired Arizona police officer named Troy Teske, a friend of Thell Reed (longtime Hollywood armorer and father of Gutierrez-Reed), was later identified as the Good Samaritan who delivered a sample of ammunition to the sheriff’s office. This ammo contained at least one round with a Starline brass casing, which seemed to match the bullet that fatally struck Hutchins. According to Baldwin’s attorney Alex Spiro, this batch originated from Kenney and Reed and was utilized by cast members on the Paramount+ Western series “1883” during a ‘cowboy training camp’ run by them, where live ammunition was employed for target practice. Teske acquired it from Reed, who kept some of his weapons at Teske’s residence. Additionally, Kenney returned some of these rounds to PDQ Arm and Prop in New Mexico.
Marissa Poppell, the crime scene investigator, mentioned that Teske informed her about the connection between the recent findings and the ongoing case. Later, Spiro asked, “Didn’t Teske tell you that you were misled by Seth Kenney?”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kenney suggests that Troy Teske’s actions might not be innocent. He points out that in November 2021, Teske stated he didn’t possess .45 Colt ammunition with nickel primers, which could match the ammunition used in the movie “Rust.” However, a year later, Teske submitted ammunition to the sheriff’s office that included three rounds with nickel primers, which were not part of the initial 100 rounds he claimed to have. These new rounds might correspond to the ammunition used in “Rust.”
Kenney has been providing prop weapons and ammunition for film productions through PDQ Arm and Prop for over a decade. He also served as a weapons consultant on the 2015 movie “Man Down” starring Shia LaBeouf. During this period, he worked at The Hand Prop Room, managing their Los Angeles prop rental house’s weapon collection. In 2016, he was sued by his former employer over claims that he stole weapons, used their license to obtain firearms for personal use, and tried to steal clients to start his own business. However, this lawsuit was later dismissed.
Kenney supplied approximately 30 guns of different kinds and ammunition for the movie set of “Rust,” primarily .44-.40 and .38-.40 bullets, as stated in a report published by the Santa Fe Court Sheriff’s Office in November 2021. He claimed he gave only one box of .45 Long Colt ammunition, which is the type used for the revolver that accidentally discharged and killed Hutchins. He has consistently asserted that the ammunition he provided was not used by Gutierrez-Reed to load the gun that Baldwin discharged. This is because it didn’t match the description of the box the armorer had drawn from on the day of the shooting, as described by “Rust” props assistant Sarah Zachry to investigators.
The records show us how Kenney behaved and what he was thinking in the period after the fatal incident. Immediately afterwards, Zachry phoned Kenney, who claimed the shots weren’t his. Prior to Hutchins’ death, he contacted Teske, a judge and former Arizona police officer who is acquainted with Gutierrez-Reed’s father, stating to him that she had made a mistake, as mentioned in a lawsuit filed by Kenney against Gutierrez-Reed that has since been dismissed.
Over the next few days, Kenney urged Zachry to meticulously inspect each round prior to dispatching them, even going so far as to shake dummy rounds. Later on, he informed investigators that he suspected the bullet in question could have come from his own ammunition supplier, Joe Swanson. However, Swanson did not respond to inquiries seeking comment.
On the year 1883, just before the commencement of Rust’s production, Reed possessed approximately 300 live .45 Colt rounds which he brought along with Kenney for a shooting drill on their Western series airing on Paramount+. The remaining rounds were kept in Teske’s garage. Following the conclusion of the training camp, it was Kenney who took the leftover ammunition to his arms and prop house in New Mexico.
2021 saw a conversation between Kenney and the lead investigator in the Rust case, Cpl. Alexandria Hancock, during which he suggested that the fatal bullet could potentially have come from this specific batch of ammunition. As per the sheriff’s report, Kenney also admitted that he and Swanson had been concerned about this possibility, finding it difficult to believe the bullet originated anywhere else.
After the 1883 training concluded, I personally informed the sheriff’s office that Kenney had kept the ammo container and the remaining live rounds. However, law enforcement didn’t search PDQ Arm & Prop until four weeks after Hutchins’ demise, during which time the container was found empty of any Starline brass-cased rounds. As stated in Gutierrez-Reed’s lawsuit, there’s no account for what happened to the rest of the live ammunition or where Seth might have taken them. The sheriff’s report, containing a catalog of evidence subjected to testing, reveals that neither DNA nor fingerprint analysis was conducted on the found ammunition on set, making it virtually impossible to trace their origin.
The disclosure of the rounds brought by Teske, and whether they truly match those found on the Rust set, has been disputed. Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey said the ammunition in the possession of Teske and Kenney used for shooting practice in 1883 was ruled out as the sources of those found on the Rust set after the ex-police officer sent Kenney a picture of the rounds he was holding for Reed, which Morrissey examined. “When you look at that photograph… you can tell these are not similar to the live rounds that were found on set of Rust,” Morrissey testified during the Baldwin trial. She said she did her due diligence to inspect those rounds, pointing to the seizure of ammunition from PDQ Arm and Props. “Not only is it not a match when you look at it, it’s not a match when you send it to the FBI, and you ask them to conduct chemical testing,” the special prosecutor explained.
On the day Baldwin’s case was dismissed, Morrissey called Poppell to testify in defense of her choice not to share the evidence with the defense. “Is it accurate to say they can observe that it doesn’t align with the live ammunition from the Rust set?” she questioned the crime technician. “And isn’t it self-evident, merely by looking at it, don’t you think?” To which Poppell concurred.
When I took a closer look at the ammo Teske presented in court, it seemed remarkably similar to what was left on the set post-shooting – me being the one who noticed this detail as a gamer with an eye for details.
After the disclosure, Kenney was asked to take the stand first. He verified that he provided a box containing inert .45 Colt cartridges with Starline brass casings and nickel primers to Zachry, who subsequently introduced this prop on the set of Rust. However, he emphatically stated that he was not responsible for the live ammunition.
“A few days following the fatal shooting incident, Hannah and Thell Reed retrieved numerous items of possible relevance as evidence, such as over a dozen gun belts, before the sheriff’s department could conduct a search. According to Kenney, he informed THR that Teske is a good friend of the Reed family, which could explain how he might have obtained ammunition similar to what was used on the set of Rust.”
It became clear later on that Poppell had given false testimony regarding the ammunition supplied by Teske not matching the bullets found on the Rust set. Hancock, who supported Baldwin’s lawyer’s claims, asserted that the crime scene technician’s statement was entirely untrue. Morrissey admitted that she hadn’t known about bullets resembling those in question.
Morrissey shared that it was in an open court setting, during the day the court discarded Baldwin’s case, when she discovered for the first time that Teske possessed ammunition resembling those found on the Rust set – all of which belonged to Reed.
“It’s questionable that Mr. Teske supplied photos of rounds in November 2021 and January 2024, which are strikingly different from the live rounds discovered on the set of Rust. In a letter dated November 2021, he confirmed he couldn’t find any rounds with [nickel] primers. However, on March 6, 2024, he delivered rounds that resemble those from Rust, as stated in her court filing opposing a new trial for Gutierrez-Reed.”
At the trial, Kenney expressed doubt that he was being used as a fall guy by Reed (Gutierrez-Reed’s father), Teske (a long-standing companion of the veteran armorer), or any of them.
He testified, “It seemed palpable they were trying to point the finger at me.”
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2024-08-22 16:56