Film director shot by Alec Baldwin says it felt like being hit by bat

Director Joel Souza testifies in the trial against Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in state district court in Santa Fe (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)

A movie director who survived being shot by Alec Baldwin during a movie rehearsal told a court he was approaching the film’s cinematographer when he heard a loud bang and felt the bullet’s impact.

“It felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my shoulder,” said Joel Souza, who was wounded by the same bullet that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set for the upcoming Western movie Rust on October 21 2021.