More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that Alec Baldwin recklessly fired a gun when it wasn't called for in the script when he shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on the New Mexico set of the film "Rust."
"There was nothing in the script about the gun being discharged by DEFENDANT BALDWIN or by any other person," the lawsuit from script supervisor Mamie Mitchell says.
The lawsuit is the second to stem from the shooting, with many more expected.
Like last week's from head of lighting Serge Svetnoy, it was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and names many defendants including Baldwin, who was both star and a producer; David Halls, the assistant director who handed Baldwin the gun; and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was in charge of weapons on the set.
Mitchell's lawsuit focuses mainly on Baldwin's actions. It said she was standing next to Hutchins and within 4 feet (1.22 meters) of the actor, and was stunned when he fired the gun inside the tiny church on Bonanza Creek Ranch on Oct. 21.
According to discussions before the scene was filmed, it called for three tight shots of Baldwin: One on his eyes, one on a blood stain on his shoulder, and one on his torso as he pulled the gun from a holster, the lawsuit says.
There was no call for Baldwin to point the gun toward Hutchins and Souza, nor to fire it, the lawsuit says.
And it alleges Baldwin violated protocol by not checking the gun more carefully.
"Mr. Baldwin chose to play Russian roulette when he fired a gun without checking it, and without having the armorer do so in his presence," Mitchell's attorney Gloria Allred said at a news conference.
A veteran script supervisor who has worked on nearly 100 productions, Mitchell was on a set for the first time since the pandemic began. She was the first to call 911 after the shooting, the lawsuit says.
She suffered "serious physical trauma and shock and injury to her nervous system," the lawsuit says, without giving details.
Mitchell is seeking both compensation and punitive damages in amounts to be determined later.
Lawyers and other representatives for the defendants had no immediate comment.
Baldwin said on video Oct. 30 that the shooting was a "one-in-a-trillion event" saying, "We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together and then this horrible event happened."
Mitchell's lawsuit alleges that the armorer on the production, Gutierrez Reed, had minimal experience, and she was hired as one of several cost-cutting measures that proved dangerous.
It says she violated protocol by allowing guns and ammunition to be unattended during a lunch break.
Gutierrez Reed told authorities she does not know how a live round ended up in the gun. Her lawyer Jason Bowles said in a statement last week that "we are convinced this was sabotage and Hannah is being framed. We believe that the scene was tampered with as well before the police arrived."
Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said last week that investigators have encountered no proof of sabotage.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”