Matthew Hutchins — the husband of the late Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who died late last month after being fatally shot by actor Alec Baldwin on the film set — has reportedly hired a Los Angeles law firm that specializes in wrongful death lawsuits.
A spokesperson for the Hutchins family told the Los Angeles Times that Matthew has enlisted the legal counsel of Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi, with Brian Panish acting as lead lawyer, and that the husband “remains focused on taking care of his son and processing his grief.”
While on the set of Rust on October 21, Baldwin was rehearsing with a gun that he was told did not contain live ammunition. The actor later pulled the trigger, fatally shooting Halyna Hutchins and wounding director, Joel Souza.
Halyna Hutchins is survived by her husband, Matthew, and their 9-year-old son, Andros.
While the law firm did not disclose whether Matthew plans to file a suit, sources told TMZ that he does intend to file a lawsuit, and that there will be multiple defendants.
Other Rust crew members who have faced heavy scrutiny in the wake of Halyna’s death include the film’s head armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, and assistant director Dave Halls, as they were the last two individuals to handle the firearm before it was given to Baldwin.
Gutierrez-Reed, who set the firearm in question on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, was the subject of numerous complaints while handling weapons on the set of The Old Way. It was her first time as an armorer on a film set, just two months before taking her second job on the set of Rust.
David Halls, who before the deadly shooting told Baldwin the firearm he gave him was a “cold gun,” was reportedly fired from a previous job after a gun went off on a set and wounded a member of the film crew.
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Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said last week there was “some complacency” in how weapons were handled on the set. Investigators found around 500 rounds of ammunition — a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and suspected live rounds — even though Gutierrez-Reed said real ammo should never have been present.
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Last week, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said that Baldwin “pulled the trigger,” which doesn’t mean that charges will be filed against him, but it also “doesn’t mean they won’t.”
The investigation into Halyna Hutchins’ death is still ongoing.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.