A WITNESS in the Ballymurphy inquest has said he saw civilians with guns before and after two of the fatal shootings.
The inquest is examining 10 deaths in the area of west Belfast over three days in August 1971.
Gerald Clarke, whose brother Bobby was shot on August 9 but survived, said he saw several armed men on that day.
A visibly distressed Mr Clarke told Belfast Coroner's Court he was on waste ground in the area of Springfield Park when Fr Hugh Mullan (38) and 19-year-old Francis Quinn were killed.
He said he believed they were killed by British soldiers positioned on the roof of flats in the Springmartin area.
Mr Clarke said no-one on the waste ground fired a gun.
However, he told the court that he did see a senior republican produce a revolver later that evening.
Soldiers have long been held responsible for killing the 10 people in Ballymurphy but last year former UVF members claimed their paramilitary group was also involved.
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At the time of the shootings, Mr Clarke was living in Springfield Park with Bobby, his older step-brother, and his brother's wife and children.
Then aged in his late teens, he said on the day of the fatal shootings there was huge fear that "something might happen".
Internment had been introduced early on the morning of August 9.
He told the court that he was among several men who walked to Ballymurphy to seek help from a senior republican - the same man he said he later encountered with a revolver on the waste ground.
He said the republican told the men he would not give firearms to anyone in the area but would "provide personnel support".
Mr Clarke said before the shootings he saw a man he knew to be an IRA member firing in the direction of a large crowd of loyalists who had gathered in Springmartin.
"He wasn't aiming as such," he said. "He was firing in the direction of the crowd."
He later said: "I am not accusing anyone of attempted murder."
Mr Clarke made a series of claims including:
- seeing a neighbour from Springfield Park being detained by a soldier as a shotgun lay on the ground
- witnessing two soldiers in black berets positioned on the roof of flats at Springmartin
- seeing two men at garages at Moyard, one armed with a shotgun which was aimed towards the soldiers
- watching as the man tried to fire but the gun failed.
Mr Clarke also said he was attempting to return home when at one point a man who he did not know came up to him and gave him a double-barrelled shotgun and cartridges.
He said two men then took the gun from him: "Two young lads came up and said 'we've been told to take this off you'."
During a long day of evidence, he also told how he saw his brother Bobby carry a child to safety across the waste ground.
He remembered that as his brother walked away he heard a single shot and saw his brother fall.
"I vaguely remember Fr Mullan giving him the Last Rites," he said.
He added: "You see cowboy films... they aren't real; this is real."
He said he ran to help his brother as another man bandaged the wound and he then went to help women and children who were fleeing from their homes across the waste ground.
Mr Clarke said he lay down at the foot of a man he later discovered to be Francis Quinn.
He described bullets from British soldiers "zipping" across the ground. "You were very close to death," he said.
He said as Fr Mullan left Bobby Clarke he heard gunfire which killed the priest. He also heard Fr Mullan cry out in pain.
Mr Clarke said he was lying at Mr Quinn's feet when the teenager was shot dead.
He said Mr Quinn "was hit where he lay".
"His boots recoiled and hit me in the head," he said.
He added: "He flexed into me and I pushed up and said 'are you hit, are you hit?'"
Mr Clarke continued: "I knew he was dead."
He later described hearing further shots as he waited until dark until he could take his brother to safety.
He said a man close by, whom he recognised as a senior IRA man, helped them. The man then produced a revolver, he said, but did not fire it.
The inquest continues today.
