Alec Baldwin is sued by family of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins for wrongful death
BREAKING: ‘Reckless and cost-cutting’ Alec Baldwin is sued by family of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins for ‘unlimited damages’ after he accidentally killed her with prop gun blast to her chest on New Mexico set
Halyna Hutchins’ husband and son are suing Alec Baldwin and others associated with production of Western Rust Lawyers claims ‘reckless behavior and cost-cutting’ led to cinematographer’s death in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in October 2021 Complaint alleges Baldwin had turned down training for the kind of gun draw he was doing when he shot Hutchins Law firm produced a video that shows animated recreation of the shooting
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The family of slain cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Tuesday filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and others on the set of low-budget Western film ‘Rust’ after the actor killed her with a prop gun blast to her chest.
Baldwin was holding a revolver on set in New Mexico during rehearsal when it fired a live round on October 21, 2021, killing Hutchins.
He has maintained that it was Hutchins herself who asked him to point the gun just off camera and toward her armpit before it went off. Director Joel Souza also was wounded in the shooting on the Bonanza Creek Ranch film set near Santa Fe.
The civil complaint, filed in New Mexico on Tuesday, is seeking unspecified damages, including punitive damages.
The family of slain cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Tuesday filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Alec Baldwin stemming from her shooting death on set
Attorneys for Hutchins’ family allege in the complaint that Baldwin and others acted in a ‘reckless’ manner, leading to the cinematographer’s death. Pictured: a visibly shaken Baldwin speaks on the phone just after the shooting
Brian Panish, lead attorney for Hutchins’ family, speaks at a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, flanked by photos of the cinematographer and her family
The law firm handling the case produced this video that shows an animated recreation of the shooting, complete with a Baldwin avatar
In the video, Baldwin accepts the revolver and points it at Hutchins, who is standing next to the camera in a church set
Baldwin fires, and the round strikes Hutchins, 42, in the chest
Hutchins collapses to the floor, mortally wounded
The animation shows that the round in the gun was not a typical ‘dummy’ bullet with a hole drilled in the middle
Attorney Brian Panish, representing Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, and their young son, Andros, held a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday to announce the lawsuit against Baldwin and ‘others who are responsible for the safety on set, and whose reckless behavior and cost-cutting led to the senseless, tragic death of Halyna Hutchins,’ he said.
According to Panish, his firm has conducted an independent investigation that he said uncovered ‘numerous violations of industry standards’ by Baldwin and the other defendants named in the complaint, among them Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, assistant director David Halls and several production companies attached to the project.
A video created by the attorneys showed an animated recreation of the shooting, culminating with a computer-generated avatar representing Baldwin accepting a revolver from Halls, pointing it in Hutchins’ direction, and pulling the trigger.
The animation shows that the bullet in the chamber was live and not a ‘dummy’ with a hole drilled into it.
The round strikes Hutchins, who clutches her chest and collapses in the video.
Panish is suing Baldwin and other producers of Rust on behalf of her widowed husband, Matthew (far left) and their son, Andros (center)
Baldwin (right) is seen walking with Matthew and Andros Hutchins in Santa Fe just three days after he shot and killed Halyna on set
The shooting took place on location at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe. Hutchins, 42, is pictured center left in bobble hat next to purple dress
Baldwin claimed that he pointed the gun and pulled the hammer back at Hutchins’ direction
Baldwin has said that at Hutchins’ direction he pulled the hammer back and that it fired when he let go. He has said he didn’t know the gun contained a live round.
The attorneys said in the video presented on Tuesday that Baldwin had turned down training for the kind of gun draw he was doing when he shot Hutchins.
Law enforcement officials in New Mexico have described ‘some complacency’ in how weapons were handled on the set of Rust. They have yet to file any charges and have been working to determine where the live rounds found on set might have come from.
At least three other lawsuits have been filed over the shooting, but this is the first directly tied to one of the two people shot.
