Inquiry told of second 'civilian' gunman

Thirteen people died in Bloody Sunday shootings

A Londonderry woman has described how a second "civilian" gunman opened fire close to the spot where former Bishop of Derry Edward Daly tended a dying teenager on Bloody Sunday.

Monica Barr was giving evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry which is investigating the events of 30 January 1972 when paratroopers opened fire on civil rights marchers in Derry killing 13 men. Another man died later.

She said she saw a single shot fired from a pistol from inside a top floor flat overlooking the scene where Jackie Duddy, 17, was killed.

Other civilian witnesses have reported seeing a gunman firing from a pistol at ground level in the moments after Mr Duddy was shot - among them Bishop Daly, then Fr Daly.

The hand which was holding the pistol appeared from over the top of the window pane and pointed downwards

Monica Barr

However, Mrs Barr is the first to claim that civilian fire came from another area in Derry's Bogside, that of Block One of the Rossville Flats.

A soldier, named at the inquiry as 'T', claimed acid was poured from one of the Block One flats and that he fired upwards at the culprit.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Mrs Barr rejected suggestions that she may have been confused as to where the gunshots came from.

Her written statement, she said she saw a hand holding the pistol stick out of an open window of the flat.

The statement added: "The window, as I recall it, was tilted inwards at the top and outwards at the bottom.

Feasible

"The hand which was holding the pistol appeared from over the top of the window pane and pointed downwards.

"I remember one shot being fired from the pistol. The shot had a pop sound and was certainly different from the other shots I had heard earlier.

"Almost immediately I heard a crack and saw the wood at the top of the window frame splinter where I presume a bullet fired by a soldier below the flats had hit.

"At around the same time the hand disappeared."

Barry MacDonald QC, acting for the next-of-kin of Mr Duddy and one of the injured Patsy McDaid, challenged whether the shooting described by Mrs Barr could have been feasible.

Lord Saville: Heading inquiry

"If the window was not open very far, then the person would have to have their hand very close to the ceiling and reaching over the top of that tilting window in order to fire down in that direction, would they not?" he asked.

Mrs Barr answered: "That is right."

He asked: "That does not seem very feasible in itself, does it?"

She replied: "All I can go by is what I saw that day."

Meanwhile, lawyers acting for soldiers who are to give evidence at the inquiry are still waiting to hear if they will be granted a judicial review of the tribunal's decision that they must travel to Derry.

The soldiers, who fired shots on that day, say they will be in danger if they have to come to the city to give evidence.

The inquiry, chaired by Lord Saville of Newdigate, was established in 1998 and started taking oral evidence in March 2000.