It was announced on Tuesday that Alec Baldwin is being sued by the family of the late Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins , who was killed during a tragic on-set shooting accident last October.
The family officially filed a wrongful-death lawsuit that took the filmmaker’s life four months ago in New Mexico, as reported by Deadline .
Tragedy struck the “Rust” film set on October 21st, 2021.
Alec, the producer, and star of the film was practicing a stunt on the set when a prop gun he was holding fired.
The shot killed 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins, and injured director Joel Souza.
According to documents released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office at the time, Alec was sitting in a church pew while rehearsing a scene that involved him drawing a revolver and pointing it at the camera.
At the time, Halnya and Joel were viewing the camera angle, as reported by Joel, who was standing behind the 42–year-old at the time of the shot.
During an interview with ABC News in December, Baldwin said he cocked the gun, “but did not pull the trigger.”
The actor then went on to say he felt incredible sadness over the shooting, but not guilt.
“Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but it’s not me.”
Alec explained how the event has had a significant impact on his life, even sharing that he has nightmares about it.
“I have dreams about this constantly now,” the actor admitted.
“I go through my day, and I make it through the day. Then I collapse at the end of the day. Emotionally, I collapse.”
Alec then recalled the interaction he had with Halyna’s husband and son her death.
“I didn’t know what to say,” the 63-year-old said. “He goes like, ‘I suppose you and I are going to go through this together,” he said. And I thought, ‘Well, not as much as you are.'”
He continued: “And this boy doesn’t have a mother anymore. And there’s nothing we can do to bring her back. And I told him, I said, “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to convey to you how sorry I am.”
Now, four months following the incident, a lawsuit is being filed against Alec and others responsible for the accident.
“Halyna Hutchins deserved to live, and 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 violations,” reads the complaint.
Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed and Assistant Director David Halls were also called by name in the lawsuit.
“This lawsuit seeks justice for the losses of her survivors and to hold responsible those who caused her tragic death,” the statement continued.
“Had Defendant Baldwin, the Producers, and the Rust Production Companies taken adequate precautions to ensure firearm safety on the set of Rust or if basic firearm safety rules had been followed on the set of Rust on October 21, 2021, Halyna Hutchins would be alive and well, hugging her husband and nine-year old son.”
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Brian Panish, who represents Hutchins’ estate, spoke about the lawsuit in an emotional statement.
Of Halyna’s husband, Brian said: “He lost his long-term wife who was the love of his life, and his son lost a mother” before adding that this tragedy “never should have happened.”
“Matt is grieving. He understands that a lawsuit is needed to get answers,” he added.
The estate’s attorney Randi McGinn from Albuquerque put it simply , saying: “We’re used to people coming in from out of town to play cowboy who don’t know how to use guns.”
“You don’t hand somebody a gun until you give them safety training…” Randi continued.
“No one should ever die with a real gun on a make-believe movie set.”
This story is still developing.
h/t: USA TODAY
