Alec Baldwin sued over ‘reckless’ film shooting death by victim’s family
ALEC Baldwin is being sued by cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ family over the “reckless” shooting death on the Rust film set last year.
Hutchins, 42, was fatally shot while director-writer Joel Souza was injured when Baldwin discharged a prop firearm on the set on October 21, 2021.
Her family lawyers called the director of photography’s death “senseless” as they announced details of the wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Hutchins’ husband, Matthew, and their son Andros, 9.
“He lost his long-term wife who was the love of his life, and his son lost a mother,” said Brian Panish, who represents Hutchins’ estate, during a Tuesday press briefing.
“It never should have happened.”
The suit, filed in New Mexico on Tuesday, claims Baldwin and the other defendants in the case “failed to perform industry-standard safety checks” on the Santa Fe movie set.
It also alleges that they failed to “follow basic gun safety rules while using real guns to produce the movie Rust, with fatal consequences” and accuses the defendants of cutting corners.
“In New Mexico, we’re used to people coming in from out of town to play cowboy who don’t know how to use guns,” Randi McGinn, the estate’s attorney in Albuquerque, said.
“You don’t hand somebody a gun until you’ve given them safety training… No one should ever die with a real gun on a make-believe movie set.”
Most read in The Sun
During a press briefing on Tuesday, the Hutchins family lawyers played an animated video showing how they believe the shooting unfolded.
It showed a computer-generated avatar of Baldwin taking a gun and pulling the trigger.
It then shows an animated Hutchins collapsing to the ground and others rushing to help her.
The video highlighted texts and emails sent before the tragedy that revealed fears about the safety standards on set.
Camera assistant Lane Luper had raised red flags about accidental discharges and left the production with several others before Hutchins’ death.
‘DESERVED TO LIVE’
Lawyers also provided a list of 15 safety violations they claim were made on set.
“Halyna Hutchins deserved to live,” the lawsuit states.
“The Defendants had the power to prevent her death if they had only held sacrosanct their duty to protect the safety of every individual on a set where firearms were present instead of cutting corners on safety procedures where human lives were at stake, rushing to stay on schedule and ignoring numerous complaints of safety violation.”
Along with Baldwin, the family is also suing El Dorado Pictures, Rust Movie Productions, Short Porch Picture, and several others.
“Industry standards required Mr. Baldwin to be trained and qualified in the safe handling and proper firing procedures before accepting the revolver,” family attorney Kristina Martinez said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Martinez claimed the actor “refused weapons training on the set,” saying: “The first rule for safety with firearms at a production set required Mr. Baldwin to treat all firearms as if they were loaded and refrain from pointing a firearm.
FATAL ACCIDENT
“The industry standard required Mr. Baldwin to remember that any person or object of which he points a firearm could be destroyed.
“Mr. Baldwin, aimed the revolver at his cast and crew within a dangerous distance. The cast and crew were only four feet away from Mr. Baldwin’s weapon,” Martinez added.
The shooting happened last year as Baldwin was reportedly practicing a cross-draw technique.
It involved him pointing a Colt .45 revolver at a camera on the set, according to police reports.
It was supposed to be loaded with dummy rounds but was accidentally fitted with live ammunition, authorities added.
A bullet from the gun fatally hit Hutchins and a stray bullet wounded Souza.
Baldwin has not yet commented on the new lawsuit.
After the shooting, he tweeted: “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother, and deeply admired colleague of ours.”
He also claimed that he didn’t pull the trigger of the gun and that Hutchins had told him to point the revolver off-camera and toward her armpit.
“I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them,” Baldwin said during an ABC News interview.
“Even now, I find it hard to believe that. It doesn’t seem real to me.”
Lawyers revealed on Tuesday that Balwin last met with Hutchins’s family just after the shooting.
The Sun exclusively reported last October that Baldwin could be hit with civil charges over the film set shooting.
Leslie Y. Garfield Tenzer, a Pace Law School professor and host of Law to Fact podcast, told The Sun that rookie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and Assistant Director David Halls could be charged with involuntary manslaughter.
And Bill Davis, a police officer for 21 years turned prop master armorer who has worked on more than 300 movies and TV shows including SAW, told The Sun the same thing in a separate interview.
Their comments came as the Sante Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies revealed she is not ruling out criminal charges, saying: “Everything at this point, including criminal charges, is on the table”, the New York Times reported.
Santa Fe investigators are probing how live rounds found their way into the weapon.
At least three other lawsuits have already been filed over the shooting.
This is the first suit directly tied to one of the two people shot.
The new suit is expected to reach trial within one to two years.
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
Email us at exclusive@the-sun.com or call 212 416 4552.
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSunUS and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunUS