Alec Baldwin had been 'very careful' with firearms during filming before deadly incident on set: cameraman

• Alec Baldwin had been "very careful" handling a prop firearm on the set of his latest movie prior to a deadly shooting incident.
• Cameraman Reid Russel made the comments to police after the Thursday incident, an affidavit says.

Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin had been "very careful" handling a prop firearm on the set of his latest movie shortly before his accidental on-set shooting that killed a cinematographer and wounded the director, according to newly released documents.

In the aftermath of last Thursday's deadly shooting on the set of "Rust" in New Mexico, officers with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office took witness accounts, including from cameraman Reid Russel.

Russel "was asked about Alec [Baldwin] and the firearm and how he handled the firearm," according to an affidavit released late Sunday by the sheriff's office.

"Reid said Alec had been very careful, and brought up an instance when a scene was being filmed earlier," the affidavit says. "Reid said Alec had made sure it was safe and that a child wasn't near him when they were discharging a firearm during that scene."

According to the document, Reid was "standing next" to 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins, the director of photography, and director Joel Souza, 48, at the time when Baldwin fired the prop gun.

Hutchins was fatally shot and Souza was hospitalized for his injuries and later released.

"Reid was not sure why the firearm was discharged and just remembered the loud bang from the firearm," according to the affidavit.

The document says that after the shooting, Reid "remembered Joel having blood on his person, and Hayalna [sic] speaking and saying she couldn't feel her legs."

According to an affidavit, an assistant director had handed Baldwin the gun and told him that it wasn't loaded moments before the deadly incident.