Family of cameraman killed on set of ‘Rust’ withdraws lawsuit – NBC Los Angeles

The parents and sister of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was killed on the set of the 2021 film “Rust” in New Mexico by a shot from a prop gun carried by Alec Baldwin, have dropped their lawsuit against several defendants, including the actor.

Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, her father, Anatolii Androsovych, and her younger sister, Svetlana Zemko, filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court in February 2023. All three are Ukrainian citizens and live near Kyiv. The suit was filed just months after another lawsuit filed by Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount, with the stipulation that filming on “Rust” would continue with the widower as producer.

The family’s lawyers filed court papers Monday asking that the entire lawsuit be dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning it can be refiled later. No reason was given for the decision.

Baldwin, 66, has repeatedly denied responsibility for Hutchins’ death, which occurred on Oct. 21, 2021, in a church building on the western set of “Rust” outside Santa Fe. Baldwin was holding a prop gun and helping set up camera angles for an upcoming scene when a shot rang out, killing Hutchins, 42, and wounding director Joel Souza, now 50.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers insist in their court filings that the film’s “low-budget model” included hiring inexperienced crew members to handle the weapons used. They point out that gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was 24 at the time and had only worked as a gunsmith on one previous film.

Gutierrez-Reed, now 27, was found guilty of manslaughter in March and sentenced to 16 months in prison the following month.

Baldwin has insisted he was told the gun was not loaded when it was given to him. He also claims that although he pulled the hammer back on the gun, he never pulled the trigger. The actor was initially charged along with Gutierrez-Reed before special prosecutors who took over the case dropped his charges. Months later, a grand jury indicted him on manslaughter charges.