Baldwin Files Rust Suit With Lots of Finger-Pointing

Alec Baldwin and the producers of Rust settled last month with the family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was fatally shot by the actor on the movie's set in 2021. Now, Baldwin has lobbed his own lawsuit, which CNN notes is the first legal action he's taken in which he's blaming someone else for Hutchins' death. Reuters reports the cross-complaint was filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court as a response to another suit filed by Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell against Baldwin and four others.

Those four are now listed as defendants in Baldwin's complaint as well, including the movie's assistant director, David Halls; armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed; her assistant, Seth Kenney, as well as the prop and ammo supply store he owns; and prop master Sarah Zachry. Baldwin's suit alleges that Gutierrez-Reed didn't examine the firearm or ammo carefully enough; that Halls similarly neglected to check the gun carefully, yet still told Baldwin it was good to go before handing it to him; and that Zachry knew about reckless off-set behavior by Gutierrez-Reed, who was "a safety risk to those around her," yet said nothing.

"More than anyone else on that set, Baldwin has been wrongfully viewed as the perpetrator of this tragedy," the suit alleges. "Baldwin seeks to clear his name" and hold those he's now accusing "accountable for their misconduct." An attorney for Gutierrez-Reed scoffs at Baldwin's complaint, telling CNN that Baldwin "was the one who shot Halyna, and it's his fault, no one else's." Baldwin's suit seeks a jury trial that would award legal fees and compensatory, punitive, and other damages, including a portion of the damages collected by Mitchell from the same defendants if she's successful in her own suit, per the AP. Baldwin has maintained that he didn't pull the trigger on the gun, but an FBI forensics report from August said the gun couldn't have gone off otherwise. (More Alec Baldwin stories.)