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Tearful Alec Baldwin says 'I didn't pull the trigger' in first interview since fatal shooting on Rust set

Watch: Baldwin says he didn’t pull trigger in ABC interview

Alec Baldwin wept as he told of his sorrow at accidentally shooting dead a cinematographer on a film set in his first interview about the tragedy.

The actor said he had "no idea" how a live bullet got into a gun he was using to rehearse a scene for the film "Rust," and that he "didn't pull the trigger."

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, died and director Joel Souza was injured when a gun that Baldwin had been told was safe fired off a live bullet during a rehearsal on Oct 21.

In an hour-long interview with ABC News to be broadcast on Thursday Baldwin said: "The trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger. No, no, no, I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never.

"I have no idea. Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn't even supposed to be on the property.

"I think back and I think of what could I have done?"

In tears, Baldwin said of the cinematographer: "She was someone who was loved by everyone who worked with her, and liked by everyone who worked with her, and admired... I mean, even now I find it hard to believe. It doesn't seem real to me."

Baldwin - ABC News
Baldwin - ABC News

George Stephanopoulos, who interviewed Baldwin, said afterward: "He was devastated, but he was also very candid, very forthcoming."

Stephanopoulos also asked: "I think the big question, and the one you must have asked yourself a thousand times, how could this have happened?

And he asked Baldwin: "You've described it as a one-in-a-trillion shot and the gun was in your hand, how do you come to terms with that?"

He also asked Baldwin how he would "respond to actors like George Clooney who say every time they were handed a gun they checked it themselves?"

Stephanopoulos also asked the actor: "Do you feel guilt?"

The answers to those questions will not be seen until the full interview is broadcast on ABC in the US at 1am GMT on Friday. It will also be streamed on Hulu.

Police investigating the tragedy are looking into whether recycled live ammunition may have made its way into a stash of dummy bullets used for the production on a film set in New Mexico.

Industry experts have said live rounds should never be on set.

Newly released court documents included a search warrant for the premises of a local supplier of ammunition and movie props in New Mexico.

The supplier told police he suspected that the live bullets found on the set may have been "reloaded ammunition" that he got previously from a friend.

"Reloaded ammunition" is made up of recycled components, including bullets.

Watch: Scarlett Johansson on gun use in Hollywood