Alec Baldwin said he wants to clear his name and on Friday charged people involved in handling and delivering the loaded gun he used when it fired, which killed cameraman Halyna Hutchins in a 2021 filming accident in New Mexico.
Baldwin filed a complaint with the Superior Court in Los Angeles for negligence against some of the people charged by a script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell. Among other things, it demands some of the damages that Mitchell can win from the people Baldwin names and asks that they pay for the damages found against him.
Mitchell stood behind Hutchins, who died shortly after being injured while setting up a scene in the western movie Rust at a movie set on the outskirts of Santa Fe on October 21, 2021.
Mitchell sued Baldwin, who was a producer on the film, the production company and many others involved with assault and negligence.
In his cross complaint, Baldwin says that while working with Hutchins on camera angles during rehearsal for a scene, he pointed the gun in her direction, pulled back and released the hammer from the gun, which went off.
The shot fatally wounded Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza in the shoulder.
The actor said neither he nor Hutchins knew the weapon contained a live bullet.
“This tragedy took place on a movie set — not at a shooting range, not on a battlefield, not in a location where there would be even the slightest chance that a rifle would contain live ammunition,” the lawsuit said.
Baldwin has maintained that he was told the gun was safe and that he did not pull the trigger. But a recent FBI forensic report found that the weapon could not have fired unless the trigger had been pulled.
More than anyone else on that set, Baldwin has been mistakenly seen as the perpetrator of this tragedy. Through these cross-claims, Baldwin is trying to clear his name,” says the actor’s lawsuit.
Baldwin’s complaint says he lost opportunities and was fired because of the shooting and also “suffered physically and emotionally from the grief caused by these events”.
New Mexico’s Office of the Medical Investigator determined the shooting was an accident. However, prosecutors are investigating the shooting to determine whether criminal charges should be brought.
In April, the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau imposed the maximum fine of $137,000 on Rust Movie Productions and spread a scathing story of safety failures, including testimonials that production managers took limited or no action to correct two misfires of empty ammunition on set. prior to the deadly shooting.
The company is challenging the fine.
Baldwin lawsuit alleges negligence by gunsmith Hannah Guttierez-Reed; prop master Sarah Zachry; first deputy director and security coordinator David Halls, who handed Baldwin the gun; ammunition supplier Seth Kenney and his company, PDQ Arm & Prop, which also supplied prop weapons for the production.
All have previously denied responsibility for the deadly shooting.
In October, Hutchins’ family announced they had agreed to a new lawsuit against the actor and the film’s producers, and the producers said they aim to restart the project in January.
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney Jason Bowles said he was reviewing Baldwin’s lawsuit. Lawyers for other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment, The New York Times reported.
A telephone message left by The Associated Press requesting comment from Bowles was not immediately answered Friday night.
