Halyna Hutchins' husband has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, four months after her tragic passing.
On Feb. 15, E! News obtained the court documents—filed by Matthew Hutchins on behalf of himself and 9-year-old son Andros—which list Alec Baldwin among the defendants.
In late October, Halyna was killed on the New Mexico set of the movie Rust when Alec, an actor and producer on the film, discharged a prop gun, accidentally shooting Halyna and director Joel Souza. After the incident, Halyna was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead, while Joel was taken by ambulance to another medical center for treatment and was released.
In the wrongful death complaint, which was filed in New Mexico, it states that Alec "recklessly shot and killed Halyna" and claims he and other defendants named in the case "failed to perform industry standard safety checks and follow basic gun safety rules while using real guns to produce the movie Rust, with fatal consequences."
Stressing that "Halyna Hutchins deserved to live," the docs continue, "the Defendants had the power to prevent her death if they had only held sacrosanct their duty to protect the safety of every individual on a 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."
The lawsuit goes on to state that it "seeks justice for the losses of her survivors and to hold responsible those who caused her tragic death."
In response to the lawsuit, Alec's attorneys said in a statement to E! News, "Any claim that Alec was reckless is entirely false. He, Halyna and the rest of the crew relied on the statement by the two professionals responsible for checking the gun that it was a ‘cold gun' – meaning there is no possibility of a discharge, blank or otherwise."
The attorneys, who said they are continuing to cooperate with authorities, went on, "This protocol has worked on thousands of films, with millions of discharges, as there has never before been an incident on a set where an actual bullet harmed anyone."
They added that actors "should be able to rely on" armorers, prop department professionals and assistant directors "rather than deciding on their own when a gun is safe to use."
Alec told ABC News in December that the film's first assistant director, Dave Halls, gave him a revolver on set and called it a "cold gun." However, Dave's lawyer, Lisa Torraco, wouldn't confirm to ABC it he handed Alec the weapon, also saying it was "not his responsibility" to check the gun.
Weapons expert Seth Kenney of PDQ Arm & Prop also released a statement on Feb. 15 through his lawyer, denying that he provided live ammunition to the Rust production. "Mr. Kenney was not on set on the day of the shooting and, in fact, was never on set until many days after the shooting," it read. "Mr. Kenney never handled any of the weapons or ammunition on set, never provided any direction or guidance to the actors, and was not responsible for the on-set handling of firearms or ammunition." His attorney is confident Seth will be "absolved of any responsibility for the tragedy."
The attorney for the movie's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, said in a statement to E! News on Feb. 15 that "many facts" in the lawsuit support "what Hannah has been saying all along." He said she was not the "source" of the live rounds and that "There was no live round shooting on set as has been erroneously reported."
Per the statement from lawyer Jason Bowles, "She was expected to do two jobs on set with minimal time and resources. Importantly, no one from production called her into the Church to perform her armorer duties to hand the firearm to Baldwin and conduct a final safety inspection and safety briefing with Baldwin prior to him using the firearm, which resulted in a preventable, tragic shooting."
Noting that Hannah was "qualified" for her job, he said that the production "simply didn't follow proper protocol."
Prop master Sarah Zachry previously declined to comment about the shooting to the Los Angeles Times. E! News has reached out to her lawyer for comment, as well as to the Rust production.
On Oct. 22, one day after the fatal shooting, Alec took to social media to share his condolences. "There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred," he wrote. "I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna."
In a December interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Alec detailed the moment the gun went off on the film set during what he called a "marked rehearsal."
"[Halyna] says to me, 'Hold the gun lower. Go to your right. Okay, right there. All right, do that. Now show it a little bit lower.'" he explained. "And she's getting me to position the gun. She's guiding me through how she wants me to hold the gun for this angle...I'm holding the gun where she told me to hold it, which ended up being aimed right below her armpit."
"The trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger," Alec continued. "I cock the gun. I go, 'Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?' And then I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun goes off. I let go of the hammer of the gun, the gun goes off."
When asked again if he pulled the trigger, Alec confirmed he did not. As he stated, "I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them."
Back in October, production company Rust Movies Productions LLC, said in a statement, "The safety of our cast and crew is the top priority of Rust Productions and everyone associated with the company." The production went on to say it was "not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set" and will continue to cooperate with authorities and offer mental health services to the cast and crew.
This article was updated on Feb. 15, 2022, at 6:50 p.m. PT after Alec and Seth's lawyers released statements in response to the lawsuit. It was updated again on Feb. 16, 2022, at 1:56 p.m. PT to add in Hannah's lawyer's statement.