Alec Baldwin sues 4 over gun death on his movie set

Over a year after the tragic death of a cinematographer on the set of an Alec Baldwin film, the actor and producer who faces lawsuits over the incident has filed a countersuit against four people involved in the incident. In the suit, he accuses the four of negligence for giving him a gun loaded with a real bullet in it.

A prop gun malfunction on the set of a movie in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the US last October led to one death and one person in emergency care after being shot on set. The film “Rust,” a Western movie produced by and starring Baldwin and directed by Joel Souza was the site of the tragedy. The prop gun that Baldwin was to fire toward the camera was somehow loaded with live ammunition which injured director Joel Souza and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Earlier this year, in a rare interview regarding the tragic gun accident on the set of his film “Rust” which left the cinematographer dead, Baldwin deflected blame and said he didn’t believe anyone would be criminally charged over the incident. Baldwin has now filed suit in a Los Angeles court against Hannah Gutierrez-Reed – the armourer and props assistant- as well as propmaster Sarah Zachry, Seth Kenney who supplied the set with guns and ammo, and assistant director David Halls.

All four named in the suit have denied any responsibility for the shooting accident. Baldwin says the armourer and propmaster both failed to verify the gun was safe, and that the assistant director didn’t check the weapon before handing it to Baldwin.

At the time, the local district attorney said criminal charges against Baldwin were not out of the question. The Santa Fe district attorney said of the possibility of Baldwin facing charges, “all options are on the table; No one has been ruled out at this point.” The statement was unclear as to whether charges would be considered against Baldwin as the actor who fired the prop gun that killed the cinematographer, or as the producer of the movie, responsible for on-set problems and accidents.

So far Baldwin has only faced civil suits. Script supervisor Mamie Mitchell sued Baldwin and others involved with the film over her emotional distress from the shooting. And last month, the actor settled with the family of the woman killed in the freak accident, though it hasn’t been approved by a judge yet and details are not public.

Meanwhile, in a surprising twist, the movie production is set to resume in January with the husband of the killed cinematographer taking over as executive producer. The Bangkok Post reported that Matthew Hutchins announced that he does not plan to dwell on the past tragedy on set.

“I have no interest in engaging in recriminations or attribution of blame. All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident.”