Former 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin has given his first interview since the shooting in October of 44-year-old Halyna Hutchins in an Upper West Side New York City apartment building.
“I have no idea what happened that night. I don’t remember,” he told the Wall Street Journal.
Baldwin (who is as famous for his first name as for his work on 30 Rock) responded to the aftermath of the shooting in an Instagram post in which he apologised to the Hutchins family “for this tragedy” and said he had been present at the time of the shooting.
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Getty Images Mark Von Holden/FilmMagic
He added: “Im absolutely distraught over the loss of someone I greatly admired, admired and admired for the person she was and the good she’s done in the world. I have never forgotten her kindness to me many years ago, and certainly did not intend for any of this to happen.
“My heart goes out to her family and loved ones,” he added.
The actor, who will soon be seen in Game of Thrones season 7, went on to say that he is “extremely close” to Halyna’s family.
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“I came close to dying. I was shot in the face, I hit my head. One police officer helped me. I went down three flights of stairs. I had blood up to my nose, over my makeup on, and my choker around my neck… Someone I know, bless his heart, called the ambulance and within 10 minutes I was in the hospital.”
Baldwin, who was released from hospital days after the shooting, is now in counseling.
“I want to do some public service. I have a lot of conviction and education in things. I want to do something to help, I haven’t figured it out yet,” he said.
“I can’t answer a lot of these questions. My capacity to experience the night I was shot is very limited. I took two dozen pills; I was very, very low. I did not awaken from my shooting, I did not wake up. I do not remember anything.
“I don’t know who shot me. I do not have the intention of shooting myself. But I want to say something, I want to do something, I want to help. I have zero memory.”
Hutchins, of the Bronx, had become friends with the actor at community theatre, where he and Baldwin appeared in plays in the past.
The New York Police Department later released surveillance footage, which showed Baldwin carrying what appeared to be a pistol.
Baldwin has been charged with assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon, but police said in October that it wasn’t clear what precisely was in his hand at the time of the shooting.
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