Actor Alec Baldwin filed a lawsuit Friday against several people associated with the film “Rust” — including its armorer and first assistant director — accusing them of negligence for giving him a loaded gun on the set that fired, killing its cinematographer.
Baldwin made the allegations in a cross-complaint, which follows a lawsuit filed against him last year in Los Angeles by Mamie Mitchell, the film’s script supervisor. Mitchell had sued him and several other people associated with the film for their alleged roles in the shooting, which she said had caused her severe emotional distress.
His suit names Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, who was in charge of handling guns and ammunition on set; Dave Halls, the first assistant director, who handed the gun to Baldwin that day and declared it safe; Sarah Zachry, the crew member in charge of props; and Seth Kenney, who has been described as the primary supplier of guns and ammunition to the film set. A lawyer for Baldwin, Luke Nikas, wrote in the complaint that they had not fulfilled their professional duty to maintain safety on set.
“This tragedy happened because live bullets were delivered to the set and loaded into the gun,” the lawsuit said. It accused Gutierrez-Reed of failing to check the bullets or the gun carefully; Halls of failing to check the gun carefully before announcing it was safe and handing it to Baldwin; and Zachry of breaching her duty as props master by failing to ensure the safety of the weapons and ammunition on the set.
The deadly shooting occurred more than a year ago, on Oct. 21, as they were filming “Rust,” a low-budget Western, on a ranch in New Mexico, just outside Santa Fe. Baldwin was on the set practicing drawing an old-fashioned revolver when the gun discharged a bullet that struck the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and the director, Joel Souza. Baldwin has maintained that he was not responsible for the fatal shooting, saying that he was told the gun was safe to handle and that he did not pull the trigger.
In interviews with detectives and in court papers in other cases, the defendants named in Baldwin’s lawsuit have all denied culpability for the shooting. Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, has also sued Kenney, accusing him of providing live ammunition to the film, which he has denied.
A lawyer for Gutierrez-Reed, Jason Bowles, said he was reviewing Baldwin’s lawsuit. Lawyers for the other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Baldwin’s lawsuit, which cites evidence released earlier this year by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, accuses Kenney of keeping his weapons and ammunition company in “disarray,” and it includes photos of what it described as “haphazardly” stored ammunition. The lawsuit also criticizes Zachry’s and Gutierrez-Reed’s organization of guns and ammunition on the set, citing an FBI report showing that live bullets had been found in several places, including in a bandoleer that Baldwin was wearing that day.
Local prosecutors are still reviewing the case and will determine whether to file criminal charges. The sheriff’s office delivered its final investigative report to prosecutors last month, but it has yet to release its findings to the public.
Mitchell, a script supervisor who was standing near Baldwin when the gun discharged, alleged in her lawsuit that an injury or death on the set was “a likely result” of the production’s failure to follow safety protocols. In his claim, Baldwin said that he had not been aware of any safety issues on set, and that although he was a producer on the movie, he was not tasked with on-set logistics or hiring.
Earlier this month, a judge in Los Angeles Superior Court declined to dismiss Baldwin as a defendant in Mitchell’s case.
Baldwin’s lawsuit, which also asks for indemnification from legal damages that might arise from Mitchell’s case, claims that the actor has been harmed as a result of the fatal shooting — saying that he had been fired from multiple jobs because of the “Rust” shooting and passed over for other opportunities.
“There can be no doubt that others have suffered from Cross-Defendants’ negligence far more than Baldwin has,” the lawsuit said.
“Hutchins lost her life, and her young child lost his mother,” it went on. “Producer Joel Souza was shot in the shoulder and has suffered physical and emotional pain. Though by no means comparable, Baldwin must live with the immense grief, and the resulting emotional, physical, and financial toll, caused by the fact that Cross-Defendants’ negligent conduct, assurances, and supervision put a loaded weapon in his hand and led him, Hutchins, and everyone else on set to believe that his directed use of the weapon was safe.”