Witness says shooting victim fell on him

A witness told the inquiry yesterday that a man who was shot on Bloody Sunday, but who survived, was thrown on top of him by …

A witness told the inquiry yesterday that a man who was shot on Bloody Sunday, but who survived, was thrown on top of him by the impact of the soldier's bullet.

The witness also said he heard a soldier shout at a photographer to stop taking photographs or he would shoot him.

Mr James Rowe described how he was sheltering behind a low wall in the car-park of Rossville Flats when Mr Michael Bradley walked out and stood a few feet away from him.

"People were shouting at Mickey to get down," the witness said. "Mickey was then shot. He was thrown backwards over the wall by the impact and landed on top of me. He cried out that he had been shot."

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Mr Rowe said several men carried the wounded Mr Bradley away.

Afterwards, the witness said, he was among a crowd sheltering by the gable wall of Block 1 of the flats. Mr Barney McGuigan, who was his mother's cousin, was about six feet away. He saw Barney take two or three steps out towards Rossville Street, waving a white handkerchief. "I heard the crack of a high-velocity bullet and saw Barney's head hit by a bullet." The crowd of people at the gable "went crazy".

The witness said that he was terrified, and he headed for a friend's flat on the third floor. As he crawled along the third-loor balcony, gunfire was being directed at the upper floors of Block 1.

Through the railings he saw a photographer standing on a mound of clay in the car-park, pointing his camera. He heard an English voice shouting to the photographer: "Stop taking photographs or I will shoot you". The photographer came down from the mound.

Mr Neil McLaughlin told the inquiry that when British army Saracens entered the car-park he joined about 20 people who ran at the armoured vehicles, throwing stones at them.

Soldiers jumped out of the back of the Saracens. "They did not line up in any organised fashion, they simply jumped out and started firing," he said. After further shots rang out, he saw that two people, who he learned later were Michael Bridge and Peggy Deery, had been shot and wounded.

Another witness, Mr Charlie Downey, told how he was in the crowded foyer of Block 1 of the flats during the shooting and bullets were hitting the entrance door, which was standing open on to Rossville Street. The door was split by bullets close to the frame.

A young man who he later found out was Kevin McElhinney was being treated by first-aid men in the foyer, and the witness said he helped to carry this youth (one of the victims killed) to an ambulance outside as a number of men and a priest waved white handkerchiefs.

The inquiry continues today.