Alec Baldwin has said in a new interview that he did not pull the trigger of the gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Western movie Rust.
Baldwin made the claim during an emotional conversation with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos, which is set to air later today.
On October 21, while rehearsing for a scene on set in Santa Fe, Baldwin was handed a gun by the assistant director and held it up at the camera.
According to a search warrant affidavit, the assistant director shouted "cold gun" before handing Baldwin the gun and was unaware that the weapon was loaded with live rounds.
The SNL star's latest comments on the shooting appear to contradict the statements of witnesses who were on set at that time as well as information obtained about the incident in search warrant affidavits by police in Santa Fe County.
In one part of the interview, Stephanopoulos mentioned that pulling the trigger of the prop gun wasn't in the script, to which Baldwin replied: "Well, the trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger."
Stephanopoulos responded: "So you never pulled the trigger?"
"No, no, no, no, no," Baldwin said. "I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them. Never."
However, search warrant affidavits released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office state that "the prop-gun was fired by the actor Alec Baldwin."
Rust director Joel Souza also told police that Baldwin was sitting in a pew in the building and was practicing a cross draw when he suddenly heard a "whip and then a loud pop."
Mamie Mitchell, the script supervisor who was just a few feet away from Baldwin and called the emergency services to report the shooting, alleged in a lawsuit that the actor "intentionally, without just cause or excuse, cocked and fired the loaded gun even though the upcoming scene to be filmed did not call for the cocking and firing of a firearm."
According to Mitchell, the script did not call for the actor to fire the gun.
