A witness today told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry she saw a gunman fire a shot atsoldiers as civilians lay dead and dying at the rubble barricade in RossvilleStreet.
Ms Margot Harkin, who was a 20-year-old art student at the time, watched theshootings from the Rossville Flats.
She told the Inquiry that after a number of people had been shot at thebarricade she saw two young men run into the area and take up a position inGlenfada Park facing into Rossville Street.
One of the men, clearly agitated, took a gun from his colleague, ducked hishead around the wall and fired a random shot, she said.
"Immediately after this, the gun was thrust back at the other man and theyboth ran away very fast the way they had come," Ms Harkin said.
But Mr Seamus Treacy QC, representing some of the victims' families, questionedher recollection of events.
He pointed out there would have been a large number of soldiers in the area atthe time and it would have been "crazy and suicidal" to fire off a shot.
Ms Harkin accepted that it was a reckless act but said the two young men ranaway from the area very quickly.
Ms Harkin told the Inquiry she took part in the march with her mother, abrother and a friend from Art College.
She said that as trouble flared in William Street she and her friend soughtrefuge in her granny's flat in the Rossville complex.
From there she said she had a clear view of the rubble barricade in RossvilleStreet when the Paras moved in.