Actor Alec Baldwin told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he cocked the gun that fatally shot the cinematographer for his unfinished film Rust — but insisted that he did not pull the trigger.
Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was wounded in the October 21, 2021, shooting incident.
The first part of Stephanopoulos’ interview with Baldwin aired Thursday, and a new preview clip aired Friday morning on Good Morning America. USA Today quoted Baldwin recounting the fatal moment.
Baldwin said, “I’m holding the gun where she [Hutchins] told me to hold it.”
He added, “In the scene [being rehearsed] I would have cocked the gun, and I said, ‘Do you want to see that? And she said yes. So I take the gun and I sort of cock the gun, I’m not going to pull the trigger.”
Baldwin said that Hutchins then had him adjust the angle at which he was holding the revolver.
He then told Stephanopoulos, “I cock the gun and I go, ‘Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?’ And I let go of the hammer of the gun and the gun goes off.”
Baldwin also told Stephanopoulos, “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.