‘I Am Not the Victim Here’: Alec Baldwin Denies Pulling Trigger on ‘Rust’ Set, Disputing FBI Report

Alec Baldwin has once again denied pulling the trigger of the gun that killed a cinematographer last year while filming “Rust” in New Mexico.

On Chris Cuomo’s podcast, Baldwin, 64, said “everyone on set knows what happened that day” Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot in the chest and director Joel Souza was wounded in the shoulder. Baldwin claimed his attorney advised him to stop urging prosecutors to make a decision regarding criminal charges.

Baldwin, who was reportedly handling the gun at the time, also said that they are awaiting a report from Santa Fe County police. However, the actor claimed that prosecutors do not have to consider cops’ report when deciding whether to file charges.

“To focus on one thing — I am not the victim here. Things for me are going to get better, cleared up. I am 1000 percent sure,” Baldwin said, per the Daily Mail. “Nothing is going to bring this woman [Hutchins] back. She’s dead…This is the real tragedy.”

On October 21, 2021, Baldwin was reportedly showing how he was going to pull the gun from the holster when the weapon fired in a mock church pew at Bonanza Creek Ranch — fatally shooting Hutchins in the chest and wounding director Joel Souza injured in his shoulder. The bullet traveled through Souza’s shoulder before striking Hutchins.

It is unclear whether Baldwin’s interview preceded the release of an FBI report — which concluded that the gun could not have gone off without someone pulling the trigger.

On Thursday, Baldwin’s attorney issued a statement to the Daily Mail in which he describes the FBI report as “misconstrued.”

“The gun fired in testing only one time — without having to pull the trigger — when the hammer was pulled back and the gun broke in two different places,” he said. “The FBI was unable to fire the gun in any prior test, even when pulling the trigger, because it was in such poor condition.”

No criminal charges have been filed in connection with last year’s deadly shooting. Hutchins’ family named Baldwin in a pending wrongful death lawsuit.

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[Featured image: Alec Baldwin/AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File and Halyna Hutchins/Instagram]