Alec Baldwin shooting: Script supervisor files lawsuit against actor over fatal incident

17 November 2021, 19:59 | Updated: 17 November 2021, 21:14

The script supervisor on Rust has filed a lawsuit against actor Alec Baldwin over a fatal shooting on set.

The US actor fired a prop gun last month - which he thought was safe – but that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured the film's director Joel Souza.

Lawyer Gloria Allred announced the lawsuit filed by script supervisor Mamie Mitchell following the incident.

Ms Mitchell was the first to call emergency services.

During a press conference, her lawyer said she was "shocked" and "traumatised" over the shooting, suffering both physical and emotional harm.

As a result, she is suing Mr Baldwin and the film's producers for both intentional infliction of emotional distress and deliberate infliction of harm.

Ms Allred said, using a turn of phrase, Mr Baldwin "chose to play Russian roulette" shooting the gun without ensuring it was checked.

Read more: Distraught Alec Baldwin speaks out: 'Halyna Hutchins shooting a one in a trillion event'

Read more: Alec Baldwin faces further questioning as police confirm bullet recovered from shooting

Meanwhile, Ms Mitchell took the opportunity to remember her "new friend", Ms Hutchins, during the press conference.

"Halyna was a woman who spoke the same language of film as I did and I have lost a new friend," she said.

"I never want what happened on our set to happen to anyone else."

She said she was stood less than four feet away from Ms Hutchins when the shot was fired, while Mr Baldwin was said to have been practising.

However, Ms Allred claimed: "Even if they were filming the scene, in that scene, there was no script that called for him to discharge a gun, and that is very important. 

"That gun should not have been discharged." 

The filing said: "Alec Baldwin should have assumed that the gun in question was loaded unless and until it was demonstrated to him or checked by him that it was not loaded."

Mr Baldwin previously said he was unable to comment on the ongoing investigation, under instruction from police in New Mexico, where he was filming.

Speaking to paparazzi, he explained that he was in contact with Halyna's husband.

"The guy is overwhelmed with grief - there are incidental accidents on film sets from time to time but nothing like this, this is a one in a trillion episode.

"So he is in shock… we are in constant contact with him because we are very worried about his family and his kid and as I said we are eagerly awaiting for the sheriff's department to tell us what their investigation has yielded."