Actor Alec Baldwin has filed a lawsuit in California against several individuals associated with the "Rust" film, CNN reported.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot by the actor last October during a rehearsal for a scene for the movie, which was being filmed near Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The lawsuit, filed Friday, is the first legal action in which Baldwin alleges wrongdoing against someone in relation to the shooting.
Baldwin, who is listed as a defendant in a 2021 lawsuit by a "Rust" script supervisor, filed the cross-complaint against the production's armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, assistant director David Halls, armorer assistant Seth Kenney, the prop weapon and ammunition supply store company Kenney owns, and prop master Sarah Zachry.
"More than anyone else on that set, Baldwin has been wrongfully viewed as the perpetrator of this tragedy. By these Cross-Claims, Baldwin seeks to clear his name and hold Cross-Defendants accountable for their misconduct," the cross-complaint says, according to CNN.
"This tragedy happened because live bullets were delivered to the set and loaded into the gun, Gutierrez Reed failed to check the bullets or the gun carefully, Halls failed to check the gun carefully and yet announced the gun was safe before handing it to Baldwin, and Zachry failed to disclose that Gutierrez Reed had been acting recklessly off set and was a safety risk to those around her," the complaint alleges, adding Baldwin was unaware of those facts, but the cross-defendants knew.
Baldwin is seeking "compensatory, nominal, statutory, and punitive damages" through a jury trial, litigation-related expenses, and other relief to be determined by the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the cross-complaint says.
Baldwin has said that he had no idea how a live bullet got onto the set.
"Someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but it’s not me," Baldwin said in an interview following the incident, adding, "Honest to god, if I felt I was responsible, I might have killed myself."
Last month, Baldwin reached a civil settlement with the family of Hutchins.