Bloody Sunday: IRA gunman heard shots before firing
An IRA gunman, who admitted trying to shoot a soldier on Bloody Sunday, today said he heard three shots before using his weapon.
The ex-paramilitary, known to the inquiry as Official IRA Man One (OIRA1) said he fired one round from the balcony of a flat after hearing soldiers had shot two people.
“I am sure in my mind I understood two people had been shot at this time and the shots I had heard fired were from the army,” he told the Saville Tribunal.
The Inquiry is investigating the events of January 30, 1972, when 13 unarmed civilians were shot dead by paratroopers during a civil rights march in the Bogside area of Derry.
In his statement to the Tribunal, OIRA1 said he and a colleague had gone to collect a .303 rifle from an arms dump at Columbcille Court as the march was making its way to the city centre.
He said having retrieved the weapon, they were standing behind some wooden slats when he heard the noise of the march heading up William Street towards the city centre.
“I then heard what I am still sure today were three shots. Within seconds there was an even louder buzz and more shouting and I heard from down below me, below the slats, that a couple of boys had been shot.”
The former gunman said he saw a paratrooper at the Presbyterian Church in William Street pointing a rifle at the crowd and assumed he had shot two people.
“I took a split-second decision and fired an aimed shot,” he added.
Soldiers, who have given evidence to the Inquiry have reported a single shot hitting a drainpipe at the church before the paratroopers moved into the Bogside.
OIRA1 said the drainpipe was not in the line of his fire.
“I am not aware of my round hitting a drainpipe. If it did hit a drainpipe to the east of the church I cannot explain why I missed so badly the soldier I was aiming at.”
Earlier, family and friends of an Official IRA member, who collapsed in the witness box yesterday, thanked a barrister representing most of the soldiers for swiftly coming to his aid.
Edwin Glasgow QC went to the aid of OIRA4 yesterday after he was suddenly taken ill. The tribunal had to be adjourned for the day as the witness was taken to hospital.
Terence O’Donovan, a barrister representing the former paramilitary, said: “They wish me to express my gratitude to my learned friend Mr Glasgow for his prompt and professional care of the witness.”
