Gunmen appeared in Derry's Bogside on three separate occasions on Bloody Sunday, according to evidence heard today at the Saville Inquiry.
Three witness accounts described a "civilian" carrying a weapon in the area at different locations and stages of the action.
One statement recounted a man with a handgun being disarmed on the periphery of the Bogside before paratroopers moved into the area.
Another witness testified about an apparent sighting of an Official IRA man, also carrying a handgun, in the car park of the Rossville Flats in the moments following the soldiers' arrival there.
One man spoke from the witness box in the Guildhall, Derry, of seeing an "Official" getting out of a car carrying a rifle after the soldiers opened fire that day.
Giving evidence to the inquiry, Mr Bernard Doherty said he saw an Official IRA man nicknamed "Friar Tuck" getting out of a white four-door car carrying a rifle. "I remember commenting: 'You're a bit late', meaning he was a bit late to take action or get revenge. It was all over by then," he said.
Mr Doherty said the group then disappeared through an alleyway, which had a view the length of Rossville Street - the road by which the Paras had come into the Bogside that afternoon but heard no gunfire and had no idea what happened after he saw them.
Mr Patrick Doherty told the hearing that a youth beside him shouted out that he had spotted a "Sticky" [Official IRA-member] with a "short" in the car park of the Rossville Flats - possibly the same one seen by former Bishop of Derry Dr Edward Daly in that area.
Mr Doherty said: "The boy who had shouted was hysterical and moved to climb over the wall into the car park. I remember the other boy grabbed his collar to restrain him."
Under questioning from Christopher Clarke QC, counsel to the inquiry, he said: "The first boy was struggling to get over to him, he was gong to throttle him."
A statement provided by former Northern Ireland Ombudsman Mr Stephen McGonagle spoke of a "civilian" gunman, aged about 17 or 18, being disarmed by the IRA earlier in the day.
Mr McGonagle said the episode happened after the first two victims of the day, John Johnston and Damien Donaghy, were shot and wounded on the periphery of the Bogside, but before the paratroopers came in.
The statement said: "I saw the young man put his hand into the left hand pocket and pull out either a pistol or a revolver. He held this in his left hand pointing towards the ground. "The young man was walking around as if he was looking for a vantage point from which to open fire.
"The young man was followed by two people who I knew to be IRA activists. These two men quickly disarmed the young man and I would estimate that this young man was only walking in the open with his gun for about three minutes."
The inquiry was adjourned until Monday.
PA