Rust shooting: Lawsuit alleges Baldwin 'recklessly shot' Hutchins

Halyna Hutchins in 2019

Alec Baldwin "recklessly shot and killed" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust last year, a lawsuit from her family has alleged.

Ms Hutchins, 42, died last year during a scene rehearsal after a gun held by Baldwin discharged a live round.

Baldwin is one of several defendants named in the wrongful death lawsuit.

Lawyers for the Hutchins family said she would still be alive if crew members had not cut corners.

Tuesday's lawsuit was filed in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico on behalf of Ms Hutchins' husband Matthew and son Andros, and seeks unspecified damages.

At a news conference, lawyers for the Hutchins family also presented an animated re-enactment of the shooting.

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They claimed Baldwin and others "failed to perform industry standard safety checks and follow basic gun safety rules".

The lawsuit also faults producers for "cutting corners on safety procedures where human lives were at stake, rushing to stay on schedule and ignoring numerous complaints of safety violations".

Other defendants named include assistant director David Halls, armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and prop master Sarah Zachry.

Mr Halls and Ms Gutierrez-Reed have both faced complaints in the past that they did not adhere to on-set safety measures.

Scrutiny of Baldwin builds

Analysis by Sophie Long, BBC Los Angeles

This could be very serious for Alec Baldwin.

A wrongful death lawsuit will focus not on what was done, but on what was not done.

As both producer and star of the now defunct Rust, he will have to defend himself on several fronts and show that he met safety procedures that should be in place on all film sets and that he fulfilled his duty of care.

There have been reports that a number of crew members had left the Rust set because they felt safety standards were not up to scratch before the tragedy happened.

The lawsuit alleges that he recklessly discharged a lethal weapon. That is a criminal offence in New Mexico where the shooting happened.

The criminal investigation into the incident is still ongoing with the Santa Fe Sherriff's Office, which is trying to determine how live ammunition got on to the set. Investigators have not ruled out criminal charges.

The weapon that wounded Ms Hutchins was a .45 Colt revolver that was supposed to contain dummy rounds.

Baldwin - the Western film's star and co-producer - had been practising drawing the gun and pointing it at the camera when it fired a single live round.

Ms Hutchins, who was setting up for the next scene, was hit in the chest.

The film's director Joel Souza was also hit in the shoulder but survived.

Around 500 rounds of ammunition - a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and live rounds - were later located on the set.

In the aftermath of the incident, Baldwin expressed "shock and sadness" over what he called a "tragic accident".

But in December, he told ABC News that he had never pulled the trigger of the gun.

Last month, he turned over his mobile phone to investigators after they had accused him of blocking their probe.

Several lawsuits relating to the film set have been filed, and Baldwin was previously named in one filing over negligence.

No criminal charges have yet emerged, but police have not ruled it out. Baldwin has not yet responded to the latest lawsuit.