Alec Baldwin has filed a lawsuit over last year’s fatal shooting on the “Rust” set, accusing several of the film’s crew of negligence in trying to “clear their name.”
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, names the West’s first assistant director, an armorer, an ammunition supplier and a prop master as defendants.
Baldwin’s cross-complaint follows a lawsuit filed last year by the film’s script supervisor Mamie Mitchell. The civil lawsuit alleges that Baldwin “played Russian roulette” by accidentally shooting Halina Hutchins, the film’s cameraman, with a Colt .45 revolver. Director Joel Sousa was also injured in the October 2021 shooting.
“Baldwin, more than anyone else, has been wrongly identified as the perpetrator of this tragedy,” attorneys for Alec Baldwin, Luke Nicas or Quinn Emanuel said in the complaint. Cross-charged, Baldwin sought to clear his name and hold the cross-defendants accountable for their misconduct.”
Hamptons International Film Festival President Alec Baldwin attends the world premiere of the National Geographic documentary “The First Wave” at the Hamptons International Film Festival. July 7, 2021 in East Hampton, NY
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Hutchins was killed by live ammunition from the gun, authorities said. Questions revolved around how live rounds got into the New Mexico set and into the prop guns and whether the crew took proper safety precautions.
In an investigation into the shooting and other lawsuits, those named in Baldwin’s lawsuit have denied any culpability.
Mamie Mitchell’s attorney, Gloria Allred, issued a statement late Friday in response to Baldwin’s lawsuit, calling his “cross-complaint a shameful attempt to pass the buck on to someone else like he shot As she did after the death of Ms. Hutchins. . . ”
“[Baldwin] Claiming that everyone else was negligent and everyone else was at fault,” Allred continued. “Mr. Baldwin seems to argue that he’s the only one truly innocent… [Baldwin] This fails to ensure that firearms do not contain live ammunition that violates industry protocols and common sense. [He] can’t escape [his] Take responsibility for this terrible tragedy by pointing it out [the] blame others.
According to the search warrant affidavit, the film’s first assistant director, Dave Halls, handed over the gun to Baldwin while declaring a “cold shot,” letting the crew know that a gun without live ammunition was being used. According to reports, Halls told investigators that when he handed the gun to Baldwin, he was not aware of any live ammunition in the gun.
Baldwin’s lawsuit alleges that the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, “did not double-check the bullets or firearms” and had been acting “recklessly,” including allegedly taking the film’s prop gun to the shooting range for target practice .
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney has previously said his client did not know where the live rounds came from and that she was not at the church where the rehearsal took place.
Earlier this year, Gutierrez-Reed filed a lawsuit accusing Albuquerque prop companies PDQ Arm and Prop LLC of supplying live ammunition in a box that was only supposed to contain fake rounds.
In an interview with ABC News a few days after filming, Prop House owner Seth Kenney denied that the live and other live ammunition investigators found on set came from his company.
“They couldn’t have come from PDQ or me personally,” Kenny said. “When we fired dummy bullets, they were individually rattled before firing.”
Baldwin’s lawsuit also claims that the film’s prop artist, Sarah Zachary, failed to disclose that Gutierrez-Reed “posed a safety risk to those around her.”
Baldwin “suffered substantial losses” as a result of the defendants’ alleged negligence, the lawsuit said.
“He suffered both physically and emotionally from the grief caused by these events. He did not go a day without thinking about and suffering from the events of that day,” the complaint states. “Baldwin also lost many job opportunities and related income. For example, he was explicitly fired from multiple jobs and ignored for other opportunities due to the Rust incident.”
He is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages, including compensation for any damages that Mitchell’s lawsuit may have incurred
After a year-long investigation into the shooting, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office last month handed its report to the local district attorney, who will decide whether to bring criminal charges against anyone involved in the shooting.
Last month, Hutchins’ family settled a wrongful-death lawsuit against filmmakers including Baldwin.