A second lawsuit has been filed against Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin who fired a gun on the set of the film 'Rust' which killed cinematographer Halnya Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. Police are investigating how a gun, which was supposed to be filled with blank ammunition, came to contain live rounds.
Script supervisor Mamie Mitchell's who made the 911 call after Hutchin's was shot Is the latest to file a lawsuit against Baldwin and the team of 'Rust' for what she claims is 'assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and deliberate infliction of harm'. Mitchell's lawyer has informed the press that her client's stand is that Baldwin "chose to Russian roulette when he fired a gun without checking."
Set armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director David Hall are also named in the suit. Hall was identified as the one who had handed the gun to Baldwin after declaring it 'cold' which was industry code for loaded with blanks. He has since admitted that he did not check the gun thoroughly. Mitchell's lawyer told reporters that the gun should always be checked and handed over by the armourer and then checked again by the actor.
Another lawsuit was filed last week on behalf of lighting director Serge Svetnoy who alleged negligence on the sets, a claim which police have also echoed. District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies has previously refused to rule out criminal charges over the incident, which has sparked calls for the banning of functional weapons on Hollywood sets.
Aidan Mendoza, sheriff of Santa Fe County, where the incident happened, has spoken of "complacency" on the set. Mendoza said previously his officers seized more than 500 rounds of ammunition from the set, which they believed to be a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and some suspected live ammunition.