A witness told yesterday how he saw his brother-in-law, Mr Gerry McKinney, father of a large family, cut down by a bullet as he stood with his hands in the air saying, "No, don't shoot".
Mr John O'Kane, who was then aged 31, was a direct eyewitness, at close range, to three of the 13 killings by paratroopers on Bloody Sunday, August 30th, 1972. He believed that he was not called to give evidence at the original inquiry because what he could describe "was too damaging for them to hear".
Mr O'Kane, a tool-maker, said he witnessed terrible and unbelievable things that day. He had gone on the march with his brother- in-law, who was 35 years old and had seven children (an eighth child was born just eight days after he was shot dead).
The two men were in Glenfada Park North when heavy shooting began in nearby Rossville Street, and they began to assist men who were carrying away a youth who had obviously been shot. Many others were running in panic towards the alleyway exit which the men were heading for.
"There were lots of people running, jostling and pushing and the boy was knocked out of our hands to the ground," he said. "As we dropped the boy, I looked to my right and saw that three paras had entered Glenfada Park North (and) were walking towards us, pointing their rifles."
He and Mr McKinney ran with the crowd towards the alleyway.
"The paras were firing and I could hear the bullets whizzing past my head and hitting the wall to my left," he said. "I became aware that a fellow behind me had fallen. I looked back and saw that he had been shot in the right side."
The two men took cover with six or seven others against the back of the buildings of Glenfada Park, and when he looked back around the corner, Mr O'Kane said, he could seen the man who had fallen lying in the corner of the courtyard. He now knew this was Mr Jim Wray.
"He was still alive and was raising his right hand, saying 'Help me, help me'," the witness said. "The next thing I remember is that one or two shots rang out, the man's body jumped on the floor and he fell back down, limp." He and his brother-in-law felt that the paratroopers on the other side of the building could be coming in from all directions.
"I honestly thought that they would come round the sides of the building and shoot us."
Mr O'Kane said Mr McKinney and a youth called Gerald Donaghey, who had tried to go to Mr Wray's aid moments before, were standing about five feet away from him. Mr McKinney moved forward, watching the alleyway all the time. Mr O'Kane said he saw him put his hands in the air, saying "No, no, don't shoot".
A shot rang out and he fell. Then another shot rang out and Gerald Donaghey fell to the ground, clutching his stomach.
Mr O'Kane said he believed he had been just out of the line of vision of the soldier who fired. "I was frozen with disbelief," he said. "My mind was a muddle. It all seemed to happen so suddenly and there was nothing I could do. I remember standing there, chewing a handkerchief."
He went to Altnagelvin hospital to look for the body of his brother- in-law. "I have a clear recollection of there being policemen in the morgue who sniggered at us as we walked by," he said. "The morgue was like a slaughterhouse."
The inquiry continues today.