Man believed shooting 'was IRA gunfire'

A man claimed today he heard gunfire in the minutes after Bloody Sunday which he believed was ‘‘the IRA having a go’’.

Robert McLaughlin told the Saville Inquiry he heard low velocity shots ring out as he walked through the grounds of St Columb’s College on January 30 1972 - well away from the scene of the Army shootings that day which left 13 men dead.

Minutes earlier, he saw three or four men he assumed were members of the IRA inside a car on Westland Street - south of the Paratroopers’ operational sphere - and said: ‘‘I thought they looked as if they were assessing what was happening.’’

Mr McLaughlin, who was 15 on Bloody Sunday, said his cousin, Peter McLaughlin, had been shot in the shoulder by troops a day earlier on the fringe of the Bogside.

‘‘I was angry about this because Peter was what we called a simple soul and, although he was in his 20s, his mental age was that of a child,’’ said Mr McLaughlin.

Witness William Lindsay described to the hearing in the Guildhall, Derry, standing close to Free Derry Corner when he saw troops to the north on Rossville Street open fire.

Mr Lindsay also claimed to have seen shooting from the City Walls overlooking the Bogside from the east as he stood watching events unfold.

‘‘I recall that there were about seven or eight flashes which appeared to be coming from the area on the city walls.

‘‘I was aware of bullets bouncing all around me. At the time, I was the only person standing up - there was an empty space around me. Everyone else was taking cover.

‘‘I realised that the shots were aimed at me and so I ran towards the wall and dived for cover to join the men already lying there.’’