Alec Baldwin Sued By Husband Of ‘Rust’ Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Killed In On-Set Shooting

Alec Baldwin and other crew members involved in safety on the suspended film Rust are being sued by the family of the late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed on the New Mexico set of the film last October.

The suit says that Baldwin “recklessly shot and killed Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust.” It also implicates other crew by saying they did not perform “industry standard safety checks and follow basic gun safety rules while using real guns” on the film’s set.

Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, is filing a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of himself and their young son Andros, claiming Baldwin and other producers of the film “had the power to prevent her death if they only held sacrosanct their duty to protect the safety of every individual on 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.”

Hutchins was shot by Baldwin during a camera test while filming at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico and later pronounced dead after she was airlifted to a hospital. Baldwin also struck the film’s director, Joel Souza, nonfatally.

Along with announcing the suit, Matthew Hutchins’ attorney, Brian Panish, shared a video displaying several text messages allegedly between Rust crew members complaining about inadequate set safety. He also apparently showed a 3-D animated video recreation of the shooting at the press conference to demonstrate the safety failings of the crew.

According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, several camera crew workers walked off the set to protest unsafe conditions just hours before Hutchins was shot. The producer’s response to the walk-off was just to bring in non-union workers to continue the day. Baldwin was also a producer on the film and described it as a “passion project” for him in press coverage of it before shooting.

An attorney for Baldwin, Aaron Dyer, said that the actor was continuing to cooperate with investigations but that “any claim that Alec was reckless is entirely false.” Baldwin personally told ABC News in his first interview after the shooting that he “didn’t pull the trigger,” so while he regretted what happened, he wasn’t actually at fault. ‘I might have killed myself if I thought I was responsible, and I don’t say that lightly,” the actor told George Stephanopoulos.

As their investigation continues, the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office has yet to charge anyone in the incident.