Two witnesses yesterday each described how they were fired on at close range by a soldier on Bloody Sunday, and in each case the bullet narrowly missed.
Mr Terence McClements, who was 17 at the time, said he was making his way along Chamberlain Street, away from the disturbances at the army barrier in William Street.
A soldier carrying a rifle at waist level appeared around the corner of a side street. "He saw me looking at him and very casually swung his rifle in my direction and fired," Mr McClements said. "I flinched and thought `Jesus'. The bullet hit the stone archway above the window on the ground floor of the house opposite . . . and took a chunk of brick out of it."
Mr McClements ran into the car park of Rossville Flats, where he was close to 17-yearold Jackie Duddy, a classmate, when he was shot dead.
Mr Hugh Kelly also described running down Chamberlain Street and noticing a soldier at the same corner. "As I looked at the soldier, he fired once from the hip in my direction. I heard the crack of a high-velocity bullet and then saw that a brick had been blown out of one of the houses on the east side of Chamberlain Street," he said.
Mr Edwin Glasgow QC, for many of the soldiers, said the tribunal had statements from 18 civilians who all said they were at that point when the soldier fired into the window above their heads. He represented the soldier who had admitted he fired a shot over the heads of people in the position described. He had said it appeared a large group of people was coming towards him. Mr Kelly said he was not aware of a large crowd. Mr Colman Doyle, who was a photographer working for the Irish Press, described how he was feet away from a row of about five soldiers who were leaning against a wall in Rossville Street with their rifles pointed towards the barricade.
He had just walked behind the soldiers when they all fired their rifles together towards the barricade. There were about 20 or 30 people in the area. Some dived for cover and some ran towards Rossville Street flats. Mr Doyle said he assumed the soldiers were firing over the heads of the crowd.
"I was amazed when they fired but I didn't think they would be firing at the crowds." It is known five of the victims died at or near the barricade.
The inquiry continues today.