‘Rust’ shooting: Halyna Hutchins’ family sues Alec Baldwin, film’s producers
The family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed when a gun went off on the set of the movie “Rust” in October, filed suit Tuesday against the movie’s producers, including actor Alec Baldwin.
Attorneys filed the wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Hutchins’ husband, Matthew, and the couple’s son, Aldous. It was filed against producers of the movie, including Baldwin, Rust Movie Productions LLC. and 3rd Shift Media, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, The Los Angeles Times reported.
“The lawsuit … names Alec Baldwin and others who are responsible for the safety on the set and whose reckless behavior and cost-cutting led to the senseless an tragic death of Halyna Hutchins,” Brian Panish, an attorney representing Hutchins’ family, said Tuesday at a news conference. He added that the shooting left behind “a young boy who will never have a mother” and a man who lost a woman who Panish described as his “soulmate.”
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“We need to have them be fully compensated, and we need to hold the people responsible” accountable, the attorney said.
In a video recreation played Tuesday, attorneys said people on set had raised concerns about safety before Hutchins’ death. In the suit, lawyers accused Baldwin and the production crew of disregarding more than a dozen industry standards, including one that required those on set to treat guns as if they were loaded at all times, one that cautioned people to refrain from pointing guns at other people and another that required a thorough check of firearms before putting them into use.
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“There are regulations and guidelines in place today that should prevent something like this from happening, but they need to be enforced,” Panish said. “Had they been followed, this would never have happened.”
Panish said Tuesday that other live ammunition had been found in other parts of the set, indicating that the issues that led to Hutchins’ death weren’t “a fluke.” Last year, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adnan Mendoza said officials recovered about 500 rounds of ammunition from the movie set, including a “mix of blanks, dummy rounds and what we suspect are live rounds.”
Authorities said Baldwin was holding a gun Oct. 21 while Hutchins was setting up a scene for “Rust” when he pulled the trigger. A bullet hit and killed Hutchins and injured the movie’s director, Joel Souza.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office responds to the scene of a fatal accidental shooting at a Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set near Santa Fe, N.M., on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Authorities say a cinematographer has been killed and a director injured Thursday after they were shot by a prop firearm on the "Rust" movie set.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office responds to the scene of a fatal accidental shooting at a Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set near Santa Fe, N.M., on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Authorities say a cinematographer has been killed and a director injured Thursday after they were shot by a prop firearm on the "Rust" movie set.
This aerial video image provided by KOAT 7 News shows the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office responding to the scene of a fatal accidental shooting at a Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set near Santa Fe, N.M., on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Authorities say a cinematographer has been killed and a director injured Thursday after they were shot by a prop firearm on the "Rust" movie set.
An exterior view shows a lighted ’emergency’ sign near the emergency entrance to Christus St. Vincent Medical Center, where "Rust" director Joel Souza was transported, on October 21, 2021, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Souza was injured and director of photography Halyna Hutchins was killed on set while filming the movie "Rust" at Bonanza Creek Ranch on Thursday. The film’s star and producer, Alec Baldwin, discharged a prop firearm that hit Hutchins and Souza, authorities said.
An exterior view shows the entrance to Christus St. Vincent Medical Center, where "Rust" director Joel Souza was transported, on October 21, 2021, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Souza was injured and director of photography Halyna Hutchins was killed on set while filming the movie "Rust" at Bonanza Creek Ranch on Thursday. The film’s star and producer, Alec Baldwin, discharged a prop firearm that hit Hutchins and Souza, authorities said.
An exterior view shows a sign directing patients to the emergency entrance to Christus St. Vincent Medical Center, where "Rust" director Joel Souza was transported, on October 21, 2021, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Souza was injured and director of photography Halyna Hutchins was killed on set while filming the movie "Rust" at Bonanza Creek Ranch on Thursday. The film’s star and producer, Alec Baldwin, discharged a prop firearm that hit Hutchins and Souza, authorities said.
An exterior view shows a sign directing patients to the emergency entrance to Christus St. Vincent Medical Center, where "Rust" director Joel Souza was transported, on October 21, 2021, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Souza was injured and director of photography Halyna Hutchins was killed on set while filming the movie "Rust" at Bonanza Creek Ranch on Thursday. The film’s star and producer, Alec Baldwin, discharged a prop firearm that hit Hutchins and Souza, authorities said.
Authorities identified the slain victim as Halyna Hutchins, a 42-year-old cinematographer, The Associated Press reported. She is shown here in a 2019 file photo.
The film’s director, 48-year-old Joel Souza, was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for injuries, officials said. He is shown here in a 2019 file photo.
In this Sept. 21, 2015, file photo, actor Alec Baldwin attends a news conference at United Nations headquarters. A prop firearm discharged by Baldwin, who is starring and producing a Western movie, killed his director of photography and injured the director Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, at the movie set outside Santa Fe, N.M., the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said.
