The husband of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by actor-producer Alec Baldwin on the set of the film, is preparing to file a wrongful death lawsuit against multiple defendants, according to TMZ.
“Matthew Hutchins retained the services of Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi … according to the L.A.-based law firm. The firm’s website says its attorneys specialize in personal injury and wrongful death litigation … so clearly, Halyna’s tragic death is in their wheelhouse. Sources familiar with the situation tell us the lawsuit will be filed on behalf of Halyna’s spouse and their child, and there will be multiple defendants,” TMZ reported.
On Wednesday, an attorney for the 24-year-old armorer for “Rust,” Hannah Gutierrez Reed, suggested on NBC’s “Today” show that it was possible someone “sabotaged the set” by placing a live round inside the gun that Baldwin used to shoot Hutchins.
Host Savannah Guthrie asked, “She loaded the gun. Did she load a live round?”
Attorney Jason Bowles: Well, we don’t even know that, and let me tell you why, Savannah: There was a box of dummy rounds, and the box is labeled “dummy.” Hannah did take from that box — which she, by all accounts should have been able to rely on — that contains only dummy rounds. She loaded rounds from that box into the handgun only later to find out there is a — she had no idea, she inspected the rounds — that there was a live round. Now we don’t know, however, whether that live round came from that box, we’re assuming it did, we’re assuming somebody put the live round in that box, which if you think about that, the person who put the live round in the box of dummy rounds had to have the purpose of sabotaging the set. There is no other reason you would do that: that you would mix that live round in with the dummy rounds.
Guthrie: Is that your theory of the case, that someone intentionally placed a live round into a box of dummies for the purpose of it ending up in a weapon that would be used on set?
Bowles: We don’t have a theory yet; we are investigating and we’re trying to get all the facts. That’s one of the possibilities, admittedly, that you have a round that’s supposed to contain only dummy bullets, prop ammunition, that have a projectile but are incapable of being fired and they resemble a real round.
Guthrie: Why would someone do that? Who in your mind had the motive and opportunity to do it?
Bowles: I believe that somebody who would do that, would want to sabotage the set, want to prove a point, want to say they’re disgruntled, they’re unhappy. And we know that people had already walked off the set the day before and they’re unhappy 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.
A statement released in Gutierrez Reed’s name through Bowles’ office after the “Today” show aired said, “Never in a million years did Hannah think that live rounds could have been in the ‘dummy’ Round box. Who put those in there and why is the central question,” Deadline reported.
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Source: Dailywire
