Rust ammunition supplier testifies he provided no live rounds ahead of Alec Baldwin shooting

‘Rust’ armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed faces two charges of involuntary manslaughter

The owner of the company that delivered dummy rounds to the Rust movie set told a jury that he did not provide the Alec Baldwin-produced film with the live bullet that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Seth Kenney, the owner of PDQ Arm and Prop in New Mexico, was called by the state to testify in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

Ms Gutierrez-Reed is facing two charges of involuntary manslaughter and one charge of tampering with evidence. She worked as the armourer on the set and was responsible for maintaining the weapons used in the production and monitoring the cast and crew to ensure the firearms were used safely.

Mr Kenney said he supplied the film set with dummy rounds — inert ammunition made to look real — but insisted he was not the source of the live round that killed Ms Hutchins.

He said he provided a box of 50 dummy rounds that he had personally cleaned and repackaged for the Rust production, noting that the rounds had previously been used in another production in Texas.

Mr Kenney further said that while he cleaned the rounds he shook each one to listen for a rattle. Dummy rounds typically have a metal ball bearing inside them, and the rounds rattle when they are shaken. A live bullet does not rattle when it's shaken.

The defence attorneys representing Gutierrez-Reed have largely tried to point the blame for the tragedy at others on set, including Baldwin, who starred in, wrote, and produced the film, and Mr Kenney.

Marissa Poppell, a crime scene investigator with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, said she was sent to search PDQ Arm and Prop and to collect evidence from the business. She testified that she located no live rounds while searching the business.

Six live rounds were found on the set after the shooting of Ms Hutchins. The prosecution has argued that Gutierrez-Reed brought the rounds to the set herself, while the defence has worked to provide the jury with other plausible avenues for how the live rounds wound up on set.

Live rounds are never supposed to be on a film set, for any reason. In earlier testimony, the film's director, Joel Souza, said he refused to believe he'd been shot because the idea that a live round was on set was alien to him. Cherlyn Schaefer, the paramedic who worked on the set and testified in Ms Gutierrez-Reed's trial, said she was not equipped with extensive tools for treating gunshot wounds because there should never be a live round on a set.

When Mr Kenney was asked if he ever gave any live ammunition to propmaster Sarah Zachry, he said "no."

However, he did admit that he was in possession of live rounds that he used in a shooting exercise for the cast of 1883. The event was held on series creator Tyler Sheridan's private ranch, not on set.

He said those live rounds were stored in a bathroom at his shop in a grey plastic container marked "live rounds" on the exterior.

Those live rounds were provided to 1883 by Thell Reed, the famous armourer father of the defendant.

Defence attorney Jason Bowles has called Gutierrez-Reed an "easy target" and a "scapegoat" for Baldwin and the producers of "Rust."

Closing arguments in Ms Gutierrez-Reed's trial are expected to begin on 7 March.