The husband of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed last year on the set of the film production “Rust,” said in an interview aired Thursday on the “Today” show that he was “so angry” actor and producer Alec Baldwin denied any responsibility for the part he played in the fatal shooting.
Brian Panish, an attorney for the family of late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, speaks next to a portrait of Hutchins at a news conference on Feb. 15 in Los Angeles. Hutchins’ family is suing Alec Baldwin and the movie producers of “Rust” for wrongful death. Chris Pizzello/Associated Press
It “almost sounds like he was the victim,” Matthew Hutchins recalled of watching Baldwin’s ABC News interview about the October shooting. “Hearing him blame Halyna in the interview, and shift responsibility to others, and seeing him cry about it, I just feel – are we really supposed to feel bad about you, Mr. Baldwin?”
Baldwin spoke to ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos six weeks after the .45 Long Colt revolver he held on the New Mexico set discharged, injuring director Joel Souza and killing Halyna Hutchins. Both were taken to the hospital, where Matthew Hutchins was informed of his wife’s death. An ongoing investigation by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office revealed Baldwin was handed the weapon by assistant director Dave Halls, who retrieved it from armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. Gutierrez-Reed has, in turn, accused ammunition supplier Seth Kenney of introducing “dangerous products” to the set. No criminal charges have yet been filed in the case.
Speaking to Stephanopoulos, Baldwin said that “someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me.”
In Thursday’s interview, Matthew Hutchins told “Today” anchor Hoda Kotb that he was “just so angry to see [Baldwin] talk about her death so publicly, in such a detailed way, and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her.” Kotb asked Hutchins about meeting with Baldwin and embracing him soon after the shooting, an encounter captured by photographers. Hutchins responded that “to understand that moment, you have to remember the shock we were in.”
The Washington Post has reached out to Baldwin’s representatives for comment on Hutchins’s interview.
Halyna and Matthew Hutchins were married for 16 years and shared a son, Andros. Earlier this month, attorneys representing the family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Baldwin, Halls, Gutierrez-Reed, Kenney, prop master Sarah Zachry and several producers and production companies. The document states that they “failed to perform industry standard safety checks and follow basic gun safety rules” while filming the low-budget Western.
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