The “Rust” medic who assisted director of photography Halyna Hutchins after she was shot on the New Mexico film set in October has filed a negligence lawsuit against multiple crew members.
Cheryln Schaefer gave 42-year-old Hutchins oxygen and applied pressure to her wound, which was sustained when she was shot by star and producer Alec Baldwin on Oct. 21 at Bonanza Creek Ranch, Variety reported. Director Joel Souza was also shot in the incident.
Schaefer said in her lawsuit that she has, as a result of the tragedy, endured “tremendous shock, trauma and severe emotional distress,” according to the outlet.
Armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, first assistant director Dave Halls, ammunition supplier Seth Kenney and prop master Sarah Zachry are among those named in the suit, in which Schaefer claims she’s been medically unable to return to work, Variety reported.
Though none of the producers, including Baldwin, are named individually, both Bonanza Creek Ranch and Rust Movie Productions LLC are also defendants in the suit, according to Variety.
This suit marks the fourth filed by a “Rust” crew member in the wake of Hutchins’ death, after gaffer Serge Svetnoy, script supervisor Mamie Mitchell and Gutierrez Reed.
In late October, past safety complaints against Halls surfaced, in relation to his work on Hulu’s 2019 series “Into the Dark.” By December, Halls was subpoenaed to speak with the Occupational Health and Safety Bureau of New Mexico’s Environment Department in relation to the shooting.
Svetnoy, who held the dying Hutchins after being in the room as the gun went off, filed suit in November against producers including Baldwin, claiming negligence, as well as Gutierrez Reed, who Svetnoy claimed was “unprofessional” and overwhelmed as “sole armorer.”
Within days, Mitchell — who first called 911 after the shooting — also named producers, including Baldwin, in her suit, for which she sought damages for assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and deliberate infliction of harm.
Gutierrez Reed last month sued Kenney, claiming he sent a falsely labeled box of “dummy” rounds, in which live bullets were also present — claims Kenney previously dismissed as an impossibility.
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