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Husband Of Rust Cinematographer Hutchins Set To File Wrongful Death Lawsuit

By Oreoritse Tariemi
05 November 2021   |   11:18 am
The husband of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer murdered on the set of Alec Baldwin's movie Rust has hired lawyers and is now set to file a wrongful death lawsuit.  Hutchins had been killed on October 21 during rehearsals for the film Rust in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The news of a possible lawsuit comes just after…

The husband of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer murdered on the set of Alec Baldwin’s movie Rust has hired lawyers and is now set to file a wrongful death lawsuit. 

Hutchins had been killed on October 21 during rehearsals for the film Rust in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

The news of a possible lawsuit comes just after Rust armourer (Crew member responsible for providing arms onset), Hannah Gutierrez Reed, said she’s not yet ready to speak about what happened. Reed’s lawyers claimed a saboteur put a live round in gun Alec Baldwin fired.

TMZ reports that Matthew Hutchins has hired law firm Panish, Shea, Boyle and Ravipudi in Los Angeles. 

Sources also told the news outlet that the law firm would file the wrongful death suit on behalf of Matthew Hutchins and his son, nine-year-old Andros. They also report that there will be multiple defendants in the lawsuit.

Hannah Guiterrez Reed speaking to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, November 3: “It’s only been two weeks, and I’m not ready to speak on it yet. That’ll come.”

“At this point in time, I’m just referring and directing everyone to my lawyers.”

Reed’s lawyers have suggested that in a bid to ‘sabotage’ the film, a disgruntled film crew member may have planted the live round that killed cinematographer Hutchins inside a box of prop ammunition.

In light of the fatal shooting that left director Joel Souza wounded, several crew members have publicly claimed that they were overworked and denied hotel rooms in the vicinity of the New Mexico set.

In an interview with Today Show’s Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday, Reed’s attorneys floated the theory that one of these “disgruntled workers” may have planted the live round as an act of revenge.  

“I believe that somebody who would do that would want to sabotage the set, would want to prove a point, want to say they’re disgruntled, they’re unhappy,” Jason Bowles said. 

“And we know that people had already walked off the set the day before… and the reason they are unhappy is they’re working 12 to 14 hour days, they are not given hotel rooms in and around the area, so they had to drive back and forth an hour to Albuquerque, and they’re unhappy.”

While Gutierrez Reed has not been named a suspect or charged with any crime connected to Hutchins’ killing, she has retained legal representation.  

“There was a box of dummy rounds, and the box is labelled “dummy,'” Bowles said. “Gutierrez Reed] loaded rounds from that box into the handgun, only later to find out – she had no idea – that there was a live round.”

Bowles also noted that Gutierrez had handed the loaded gun to Halls, after which she had gone about her duties as a prop assistant. He noted that she had not been present at the scene of the shooting. 

Rust camera assistant Lane Luper, who quit on the eve of the shooting, revealed to Good Morning America that there were only two safety meetings on set. He pointed out that production did not take gun safety seriously, resulting in two accidental weapon discharges and one accidental sound-effects explosion.  

“I think with Rust; it was the perfect storm of the armourer, the assistant director, the culture that was on set, the rushing. It was everything,” he said.

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