By Sheila Mckenzie-
The family of a cinematographer shot and killed on the set of the film Rust is suing Alec Baldwin and the movie’s producers for wrongful death, their attorneys said.
At a news conference in Los Angelis, Lawyers for the family of Halyna Hutchins announced the lawsuit filed in New Mexico in the name of Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, and their son.
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At least three other lawsuits have been filed over the shooting.
A family lawyer confirmed legal papers have now been filed in the state’s Santa Fe county.
The couple’s nine-year-old son is also named as one of the parties in the case, said lawyer Brian Panish.
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He said Baldwin “and others responsible for safety on the set” were the target of the lawsuit.
Baldwin last month turned over his phone to investigators, who have described “some complacency” in how weapons were handled on set. However, no criminal charges have so far been brought
The Santa Fe sheriff’s office has been investigating the incident, and determined that Gutierrez Reed, the film’s inexperienced 24-year-old armorer and key prop assistant, loaded the Colt .45 with what she believed were dummy rounds, then gave the gun to Halls, the first assistant director. Halls declared “cold gun” before handing the weapon to Baldwin.
Hutchins, a 42-year-old film veteran, was shot and killed on 21 October last year while preparing for a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, when a gun held by Baldwin accidentally went off . The incident rocked Hollywood and led to a debate on the safety of weaponry on production set.
The bullet from Baldwin’s gun struck Hutchins in the torso and lodged in the shoulder of the director, Joel Souza. Hutchins was airlifted to a hospital in Albuquerque, where she died. She is survived by her husband, Matthew Hutchins, and a nine-year-old son.
The “reckless conduct and cost-cutting measures” of Baldwin and the film’s producers “led to the death of Halyna Hutchins”, attorney Brian Panish said. A video created by the attorneys showed an animated recreation of the shooting.
Baldwin had been pointing a gun at Hutchins during the set-up for the filming of a scene for the western in New Mexico on October 21 when it went off, killing Hutchins and wounding the director, Joel Souza.
The actor claimed to have pointed the gun at Hutchins due to her instruction and it went off without him pulling the trigger.
The Bonanza Creek Ranch, where the film Rust was being filmed (Jae C Hong/AP)
The Bonanza Creek Ranch, where the film Rust was being filmed (Jae C Hong/AP)
The attorneys said in the video that Baldwin had turned down training for the kind of gun draw he was doing when he shot Hutchins.
They said industry standards call for using a rubber or similar prop gun during the set-up that was happening, and there was no call for the use of a real gun.
Last month, nearly three months after the shooting, Baldwin turned over his mobile phone to authorities in his home state of New York.
Hulyana Hutchkins Image:hollywoodreporters.com
They provided information gathered from the phone and handed it to Santa Fe County investigators, who had obtained a warrant for it.
And the film’s armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was named as a defendant in those lawsuits and blamed by some for the shooting, filed her own suit saying an ammunition supplier created dangerous conditions by including live ammunition in a box that was supposed to include only dummy rounds.
In an interview with ABC News in December, Baldwin said he felt incredible sadness over the the shooting, but not guilt.
“Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but it’s not me,” Baldwin said.
He said Hutchins had asked him to point the gun just off camera and toward her armpit before it went off.
“I didn’t pull the trigger,” Baldwin said. “I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them. Never.”
He described Hutchins as “somebody who was loved by everybody and admired by everybody who worked with her”.
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