‘I didn’t pull the trigger’

Alec breaks silence

Alec Baldwin insists he “didn’t pull the trigger” on the gun that killed a cinematographer and wounded the director on the New Mexico set of his film “Rust.”

In his first interview since the tragic Oct. 21 shooting, a tearful Baldwin (inset) told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos he has “no idea” how the live bullet ended up in the firearm.

“The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” Baldwin said in a preview clip of the interview released Wednesday.

“I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never.”

Authorities have previously said Baldwin was holding the prop gun while rehearsing a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe when it accidentally discharged.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was wounded after they were struck by the live round.

“Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property,” Baldwin said in the hourlong interview set to air in full at 8 p.m. Thursday and on Hulu later that evening.

At one poin , Baldwin sobs and places his head in his hands.

Asked if the film set shooting was the worst thing that has ever happened to him, Baldwin replied, “Yes.”

He also paid tribute to Hutchins. “I think back and I think of what could I have done? She was someone who was loved by everyone who worked with [her] and liked by everyone who worked with [her], and admired,” he said.

“I mean, even now. I find it hard to believe that [she’s gone]. It doesn’t seem real to me.”

The interview comes after a new search warrant approved by a judge Tuesday revealed the live round may have been left in the gun from a previous production.

Investigators revealed the developments in the case as they sought permission to search PDQ Arm & Prop, an ammunition store in an Albuquerque strip mall that supplied the ill-fated Western with props.

No charges have been brought in the shooting, but authorities haven’t yet ruled them out.