Hounded by paparazzi since firing a lethal shot on the set of Rust, Alec Baldwin has spoken publicly for the first time about the tragic incident that claimed the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

As he spoke to photographers, Baldwin was joined by his wife, Hilaria, who filmed the exchange with her phone, often trying to get her husband to stop talking.

He said he was breaking his silence so photographers would stop following his family.

“She was my friend,” Baldwin said of Ms Hutchins after confronting photographers on a roadside in Vermont on Saturday, adding that he has been in “constant contact” with her grieving family.

“We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together and then this horrible event happened.”

Investigators believe Baldwin’s gun discharged a single live round that killed cinematographer Ms Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza.

Baldwin called the shooting incident a “one-in-a-trillion event” and said he had met Hutchins’ husband.

“He is in shock, he has a nine-year-old son. We are in constant contact with him because we are very worried about his family and his kid,” Baldwin said.

“As I said, we are eagerly awaiting for the sheriff’s department to tell us what their investigation has yielded.”

Blanks, dummies and live rounds

Investigators in New Mexico, where the shooting occurred, have said there was “some complacency” in how weapons were handled on set, but it is too soon to determine whether charges will be filed.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza has said 500 rounds of ammunition – a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and suspected live rounds – were found while searching the set of the western.

Detectives have recovered a lead projectile they believe the actor fired. Testing is being done to confirm whether the projectile taken from Souza’s shoulder was fired from the same long Colt revolver used by Baldwin. The FBI will help with ballistics analysis.

Souza, who was standing behind Hutchins, told investigators there should never be live rounds present near the scene.

-with AAP