A witness yesterday recalled standing and watching the muzzle flashes of gunfire from Derry's walls on Bloody Sunday until he became aware of bullets bouncing nearby and realised the shots were aimed at him.
Mr William Lindsay, who was aged 18 at the time, said he stood near Free Derry Corner as people scattered in all directions after British soldiers entered Rossville Street and began firing.
"I don't know why I stood with my hands in my pockets, but I was just looking around," he said. "My attention was then drawn by a group of men who were lying by the side of a wall . . . They were shouting: `Get down, get down, they will f***ing kill you.' " The witness said he then looked up behind them to the City Walls and saw seven or eight flashes as shots were fired from there.
"I was aware of bullets bouncing all around me. At the time, I was the only person standing up . . . I realised that the shots were aimed at me." He said he ran towards the wall and dived for cover to join the men already lying there.
Mr Jimmy Duddy, who took shelter in an alleyway behind Joseph Place directly beneath the city walls, also said he could hear bullets hitting walls around him and the thud of clay flying up off the ground just feet away.
Mr Bernard Heaney lay face down on the ground near Free Derry Corner when the shooting started. He said: "I remember that an old lady fell on top of my legs. I believe other people may also have landed on top of her. Because of this I felt trapped. I could still hear the shooting and by now I felt real terror that I would be shot in the face from the Derry walls."
The number of civilian witnesses whose evidence has now been heard by the inquiry is touching 200, and it is continuing to deal with Sector 2 of the Bloody Sunday events - the shootings involving the Mortar Platoon of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment operating on the east side of Rossville Street in the Bogside.
Evidence concerning Sector 3, which relates to the shooting at the rubble barricade in Rossville Street, where up to six victims died, will begin around the middle of June.
It was announced that a special hearing is likely to take place on June 4th to consider legal submissions in regard to the venue for testimony by the several hundred military witnesses who have been granted anonymity.