Alec Baldwin is insisting he “didn’t pull the trigger” on the gun that killed a cinematographer and wounded the director on the New Mexico set of his film “Rust.”
In his first interview since the deadly Oct. 21 shooting, a tearful Baldwin told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos he has “no idea” how the live bullet ended up in the firearm.
“The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” Baldwin said in a preview clip of the interview released on Wednesday.
“I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never,” he said.
Authorities have previously said Baldwin was holding the prop gun while rehearsing a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe when it accidentally discharged.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured after they were struck by the live round.
“Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property,” Baldwin said in the ABC interview, which is set to air in full on Thursday.
At one point during the hour-long interview, Baldwin could be seen sobbing and placing his head in his hands.
Asked if the film set shooting was the worst thing that has ever happened to him, the Hollywood star said, “Yes.”
Baldwin also paid tribute to the slain cinematographer, saying it “doesn’t seem real” that Hutchins is dead.
“I think back and I think of what could I have done?” Baldwin said. “She was someone who was loved by everyone who worked with [her] and liked by everyone who worked with [her], and admired…,” he said.
“I mean, even now I find it hard to believe that [she’s gone]. It doesn’t seem real to me.”
His interview comes after a new search warrant approved by a judge on Tuesday revealed the live round may have been left in the gun from a previous film production.
Investigators revealed the developments in the case as they sought permission to search PDQ Arm & Prop, LLC — an ammunition store in an Albuquerque strip mall that supplied the ill-fated Western with props.
No charges have been brought in the film set shooting, but authorities haven’t yet ruled them out.
Baldwin’s claims are in direct contrast with what Mamie Mitchell, the film’s script supervisor, stated in a lawsuit filed last month. She said the actor “intentionally … cocked and fired” the gun.
Baldwin’s full interview will air at 8 p.m. ET Thursday on ABC.
His wife, Hilaria Baldwin, said on social media that she has had difficulty talking to the couple’s children about the fatal shooting.
“I’ve had to have some conversations, explaining recent events to my oldest children recently,” she said in an Instagram story on Tuesday. “You can imagine how heart-wrenching it has been.”
