A woman witness told the inquiry she was "mesmerised" and unable to speak or scream as she watched, through her kitchen window, two men with their hands raised being shot by a soldier at point-blank range.
Ms Maureen Doherty is one of several witnesses whose statements, read yesterday, describe the shooting dead of Gerald McKinney and Gerald Donaghey, as they faced the soldier with their hands up.
Counsel to the tribunal, Mr Christopher Clarke QC, said the medical evidence on McKinney's wound was that it was consistent with him having been shot while his arms were above his head.
Gerald McKinney, who was 35 and a father of eight children, was accompanied on Bloody Sunday by his brother-in-law, John O'Kane. Mr Clarke yesterday read Mr O'Kane's statement in which he said he and McKinney were two of those who carried the body of Michael Kelly across Glenfada Park.
The statement said there were lots of people running and pushing "and the boy was knocked out of our hands". As they dropped him, Mr O'Kane said he looked to his right and saw three paratroopers had entered Glenfada. They were firing "and I could hear the bullets whizzing past my head and hitting the wall to my left".
He and Mr McKinney ran through an alleyway and took cover, with others, against a wall out of view of the soldiers. He said: "We were all talking about how we could escape . . . We knew that there were Paras on the other side of the building and felt that they could be coming in from all directions.
"We realised how dangerous it was to move from our position but I honestly thought that the Paras would come round the sides of the building and shoot us. Some of us decided to take a chance and moved forward."
Another boy, believed to have been Gerry Donaghey, went first; Mr McKinney was behind him, and the witness followed. The boy in front reached the top of some steps and a single shot rang out and he fell to the ground, clutching his stomach.
He continued: "Despite the shooting of the young boy, Gerry (McKinney) and I decided to take our chance. In any event, we wanted to go to the young boy's assistance.
"Gerry was about five feet in front of me. I remember saying to him `be careful'. He walked forward . . . he was watching the alleyway all the time. As he approached the step, he turned his head to the left and put his hands in the air, saying, `No, no, do not shoot'.
"A shot rang out and he fell across the steps. He landed on his back and I remember him saying `Jesus, Jesus' and blessing himself. His legs kicked and then he lay still. I knew that he was dead. "I had been out of the line of vision of the Para by a couple of feet. I was frozen with disbelief. My mind was a muddle. It all seemed to happen so suddenly and there was nothing I could do. I remember standing there, chewing a handkerchief.
"People were saying to me `get back, get back'. I could not move. I could easily have been shot, although I was still out of line of vision of the Para. After a moment I was able to make my way back to the gardens, to the cover of the wall."
Ms Maureen Doherty, in her witness statement, testified to observing the same incidents as she looked out from the kitchen window. She saw the soldier, and almost at the same moment, saw the two men, one with his hands on his head and the other with his hands raised to head height. "The soldier . . . was aiming his gun at these two men . . . As I looked I heard two shots and they both fell.
"The older man fell to the ground and blessed himself with his hand . . . As far as I am concerned these men were shot in cold blood - they were not doing anything . . .
"I was mesmerised. I did not scream or say anything. The next thing I remember is . . . seeing two Knights of Malta kneeling by the two bodies." The same, or very similar account, is given by a number of other witnesses.
Several witness statements heard earlier described the intervention of Ms Eibhlin Lafferty of the Knights of Malta at a crucial stage in the shootings in Glenfada Park.
Her statement to the inquiry was read, in part, yesterday by Mr Christopher Clarke QC.
Counsel to the tribunal, after outlining several other graphic witness statements about these events, began to examine the order in which the soldiers arrived in Glenfada.
He said that, on the basis of the evidence at the Widgery inquiry, it looked as if Soldiers F and G moved in first, H came in soon after, E and J then followed, and Lieut 119 arrived later.
Mr Clarke will proceed today to the soldiers' own evidence about the Glenfada Park shootings.