Alec Baldwin spoke publicly for the first time in front of the camera about the cinema he fatally shot during the filming of “Rust,” calling her a friend and saying he was in “constant contact” with her grieving family.
“She was my friend,” Baldwin told a photographer on Saturday on a road in Vermont. “We were a very, very well-oiled team shooting the film together and then this horrible event happened.” The video was distributed by TMZ.
Investigators believe Baldwin’s gun fired a single live charge in which cameraman Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza wounded.
Baldwin was joined by his wife, Hilaria, as he spoke to photographers, and she filmed the exchange with her smartphone, often trying to stop her husband from talking. Baldwin said he spoke to get photographers to stop following his family.
Baldwin described the shooting incident as an “event of one in a trillion” and said he had met Hutchins’ husband. “He is in shock, he has a 9-year-old son. We are in constant contact with him because we are very concerned about his family and child. Like I said, we’re looking forward to the sheriff’s department telling us what their investigation has yielded.
Investigators in New Mexico, where the shooting took place, said there was “some complacency” about it. handled weapons on the set of the film, but it is too early to determine whether charges will be filed.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said 500 bullets were found while searching for the Western “Rust” kit – a mixture of blind, fake and suspected live bullets.
Detectives found a lead shot that they believe the actor fired. Testing is underway to confirm whether the projectile taken from Souza’s shoulder was fired from the same long Colt revolver used by Baldwin. The FBI will assist with ballistic analysis.
Souza, who was behind Hutchins, told investigators there should never be live ammunition near the scene.
District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said investigators can’t yet say if it was negligence or who. She described this as a complex case that will require more research and analysis.