A witness told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry yesterday how he confronted and disarmed a gunman immediately before British army paratroopers shot dead 13 civilians in the Bogside area of Derry on January 30th, 1972.
Known as Republican Movement 1, the witness, who had been granted anonymity, told the inquiry that he did not know that the gunman he had confronted was a member of the Official IRA who had just fired a shot at paratroopers.
He said that although he was not a member of the Provisional IRA on Bloody Sunday, he was then a member of the Provisional Republican movement and because of that many people could have assumed that he was a member of the IRA
Originally known to the inquiry as Provisional IRA 1, the witness said he took exception to that description as "it misrepresents my position" and he successfully applied to be known as Republican Movement 1. He said that the civil rights march on Bloody Sunday was attended by women and children and he had no concerns that "things would turn out badly. No one in their wildest dreams thought that what happened would actually happen".
The witness told the inquiry's three judges that he heard a shot being fired from a block of flats as he stood in the Bogside watching a group of youths throwing stones towards soldiers.
"I remember thinking 'Jesus, who is mad enough to fire a shot with all this crowd about?' The question of risk didn't come to mind as I thought they must be insane. Having seen the two men I immediately saw that one had a rifle. I do not remember the exact words that I used, but I remember grabbing hold of the gun and pulling it out of the man's hand and throwing the gun down the stairs and pushing him after the gun. If I had thought about what I was doing I probably would not have done it, but I was very angry."
He said the whole incident with the Official IRA sniper lasted about 30 seconds after which he left the scene.
"I do not recall him telling me why he had fired. I felt strongly it should not have happened. I confirm that this was the first shot I heard and I had heard no army fire at the time," he said.
Meanwhile a Provisional IRA man who was allegedly involved in a gun battle with soldiers in the aftermath of the Bogside killings has refused to give evidence to the inquiry. Known as Provisional IRA 9, the witness, who was due to have given his evidence yesterday, had also been given the pseudonym "Chick Donnelly" in a recent book.
The inquiry's chairman, Lord Saville, said that Provisional IRA 9 had "resolutely refused to co-operate with the inquiry in the sense either of being interviewed or giving a statement or, indeed, of attending here. In the light of that, we issued a subpoena but he appears to date to have ignored that as well".
The inquiry continues.