“I believe to let this go and leave this unpunished is unallowable,” Svetlana Zemko, the sister of the slain cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, said in a video statement, according to ABC News.
“To lose my sister at least personally for me was a horrible experience and it is one of the biggest losses of my life. And even more devastating is to see the utter suffering of our parents and how their health has sharply declined. It is for this reason that I would like those who are at fault for somebody to carry that responsibility.”
Hutchins was working as a cinematographer on the set of the Western film when Baldwin, star of movies such as 1990’s “The Hunt for Red October” and 2016’s “Paris Can Wait,” accidentally shot and killed her while he was practicing using a handgun during filming in New Mexico in October 2021. The director of “Rust,” Joel Souza, was also injured in the shooting.
Hutchins' parents and sister, who still live in Ukraine, are trying to deal with the loss of a family member while living in the midst of the war, ABC quoted the family’s attorney Gloria Allred as saying.
The lawsuit against Baldwin and the producers of “Rust,” filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges negligence, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and loss of consortium, Allred added.
ABC reported that Hutchins' husband, with whom she shared a young son, previously reached a settlement in his wrongful death lawsuit against the producers of the film. Hutchins' parents and sister were not involved in that lawsuit.
In addition to Baldwin and the film's producers, several members of the ”Rust” crew, including armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and first assistant director David Halls, have been named defendants in the latest lawsuit.
Separately, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed are charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the death of Hutchins. They are scheduled to make their first court appearance virtually on February 24.
Attorneys for both the Hollywood star and the armorer have vowed to fight the charges.
"Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set," lawyer Luke Nikas said in a statement last month. "He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds."
Prosecutors argue that Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed failed to correct reckless safety violations in their roles as producer and armorer, respectively, and that Baldwin had his finger inside the trigger and it was pulled — contradicting his statements saying he never pulled the trigger, ABC reported.