Baldwin says he never pulled the trigger. Experts are skeptical. [View all]

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Fact Checker • Analysis

Baldwin says he never pulled the trigger. Experts are skeptical.

By Glenn Kessler
The Fact Checker
Today at 3:00 a.m. EST

“Then I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun goes off.”

— actor Alec Baldwin, in an interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, Dec. 2 (1)

In his first interview since the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film set of a western called “Rust,” Baldwin said that he had started to cock the gun and released the hammer but that “I never pulled the trigger.”

His story has been backed by an attorney for “Rust” assistant director Dave Halls. “Dave has told me since the very first day I met him that Alec did not pull that trigger,” Lisa Torraco told ABC News. “His finger was never in the trigger guard.”

But several gun experts increasingly say this scenario does not make sense unless there was a serious mechanical defect with the gun — which should have been obvious before it was used.

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Sheriff Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe County told Fox News that the department is awaiting results from the FBI on how the gun could have been fired. But he was also skeptical about Baldwin’s statement. “Guns don’t just go off,” Mendoza said. “So whatever needs to happen to manipulate the firearm, he did that, and it was in his hands.”

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By Glenn Kessler
Glenn Kessler has reported on domestic and foreign policy for more than three decades. Send him statements to fact check by emailing him, tweeting at him, or sending him a message on Facebook. Twitter https://twitter.com/GlennKesslerWP

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