A police officer has described watching a masked gunman open fire during rioting in Derry before he saw Lyra McKee stumble and fall to the ground.
The trial of three men accused of murder at Belfast Crown Court has heard further accounts from PSNI officers who were on duty on the night of 18 April 2019.
Ms McKee, 29, died after being hit by a bullet as she stood close to police vehicles while observing rioting in the Creggan area of Derry.
The New IRA claimed responsibility for the author’s death.
Peter Cavanagh, 35, of Mary Street, Derry; Jordan Gareth Devine, 23, of Bishop Street, Derry; and Paul McIntyre, 56, of Kells Walk, Derry, are on trial charged with her murder.
The prosecution case is that none of the three accused fired the shot which killed Ms McKee, but were engaged in a joint enterprise to encourage and assist the gunman.
One officer told the court that he had been in an evidence gathering PSNI Land Rover as police came under attack.
He said: “I saw a figure appear wearing dark clothing and a mask covering their face, both hands up at shoulder level and appeared to be holding a handgun.
“I made my crew aware and got the camera turned round, focused on the individual,” he added.
“That’s when I heard the shots.”
The officer said he believed he heard at least four shots.
He added that “the individual appeared at one point to be trying to clear a stoppage in the gun. It misfired.”
The officer said he then noticed movement to the left of his vehicle.
He said: “I turned my attention round, there was a group of women who were standing against the Land Rover immediately in front of me to my left.
“I saw one of them, I now know to be Lyra, she sort of stumbled and fell to the floor.
“And then there was just this horrendous screaming and someone shouts ‘she has been shot’,” he added.
Seven other men are on trial at Belfast Crown Court on a number of charges, including rioting and throwing petrol bombs.
They are: Joseph Patrick Barr, 36, of Sandringham Drive, Derry; Jude Forest Coffey, 26, of Gartan Square, Derry; William Patrick Elliott, 57, of Ballymagowan Gardens, Derry; Joseph Anthony Campbell, 23, of Gosheden Cottages, Derry; Patrick Anthony Gallagher, 32, of John Field Place, Derry; Christopher Joseph Gillen, 43, of Balbane Pass, Derry; and Kieran George McCool, 55, of Ballymagowan Gardens, Derry.
