A technician present during the accidental shooting of Alec Baldwin which claimed the life of a filmmaker on the set of "Rust" lodged a complaint on Wednesday in Los Angeles for "negligence" against the actor, the production and the film gunsmith , who for his part said victim of a "coup". Serge Svetnoy, chief lighting designer of the film, was next to Alec Baldwin on October 21 when the latter activated a revolver which had been presented to him as harmless during a rehearsal. But the weapon contained live ammunition and the bullet went through the torso of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins before ending its course in the shoulder of director Joel Souza. The 42-year-old filmmaker was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but died of her injury.
Mr Svetnoy claims in his complaint that he was deafened by the detonation of the revolver, so close that he said he felt the breath and residue of powder on his face.
According to his account, he then rushed to Halyna Hutchins' bedside to help her as she sank into unconsciousness.
The technician says he suffered "serious emotional distress".
"There was no reason why a real bullet was in this gun or anywhere on the set of + Rust +," said the complaint.
"The presence of a bullet in a revolver represents a mortal threat to all those who are in the vicinity", continues Mr. Svetnoy, accusing of "negligence" the producers, including Alec Baldwin, and all those who had the responsibility of weapon and failed to apply “basic safety rules”.
"Sabotage" and "stunt"
This includes assistant director David Halls, who had handed the gun to Alec Baldwin, informing him that it was harmless, and the gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for the firearms used by the team.
The 24-year-old reaffirmed Wednesday that she had ignored the presence of live ammunition on the set.
"We are convinced that there has been sabotage and that Hannah is the victim of a set-up," wrote her lawyer Jason Bowles in a statement sent to AFP.
He asks investigators to fully investigate the presence of this "live ammunition, how it got into the box of dummy bullets and who put them there."
Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies dismissed the idea of a plot in an ABC television interview.
“We have no proof,” she said.
For his part, assistant director David Halls told the police that he "should have checked" that all the cartridges in the revolver used by Alec Baldwin were fictitious but admitted that he had "not done" it.