“The Lion King” Puppet Master Reportedly Caught Making a 3D-Printed Gun

A Puppet Technician for Disney’s hit Broadway show The Lion King was reportedly caught making a 3D-printed handgun in the theater’s prop room, according to the New York Daily News.

  • Ilya Vett is a 47-year-old Puppet Technician for The Lion King who was reportedly about to lose his job.
  • Minskoff Theatre security found the printer and the weapon as they were helping Vett clear the room out.
  • Police were called and Vett was arraigned Saturday night on a single count of attempted criminal weapon possession.
  • Vett reportedly brought the 3D-printer to work because his “workshop is too dusty.”
  • A memory card was plugged into the printer and a detective saw it creating an object that “has a hand grip and a pointed, snub-nosed nozzle, and in between the two features, an empty space where it is customary for a cylinder holding live rounds of ammunition to be placed,“ according to a criminal complaint.

What they’re saying:

  • Former Puppet Technician for The Lion King Ilya Vett: “I was making the gun as a gift to my brother. He lives upstate and has a firearms license…There’s a website that has plans for the gun. I downloaded the plans onto the SD card in the printer.”