Hero send-off for Nathaniel Julies

Johannesburg - Nathaniel Julies was laid to rest in the heroes section of Klipriviers Oog Cemetery near Eldorado Park on Saturday.

What was intended to be a private funeral was marred by a large crowd forcing its way into the cemetery, delaying proceedings that were already two hours late by another 30 minutes.

There were tense moments when a group of EFF supporters wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts were confronted by mourners who wanted them to leave.

Nathaniel's name has become well-known internationally following the fatal shooting of the 16-year-old Down syndrome boy from Eldorado Park in Johannesburg.

His death sparked mass action in the community, bringing various organisations together to rename the main road in Eldorado Park after the slain child.

He had just finished his supper, according to his mother, and went out to the tuck shop next door to buy biscuits.

In the street where Nathaniel lived, opposite the Hillbrow flats, is a broken-down white truck. It was at this truck according to an eyewitness where Lockie, as he was affectionately known, sustained a gunshot to the chest.

“It was a pump gun, those big ones," the woman explained. "They then dragged him out from under the truck where he fell," the very emotional eye witness said, before claiming that the shot came from a police van carrying five occupants.

This account sparked an investigation by Ipid, who arrested two police officers within two days of claims emerging that a police van from the area had dropped off the 16-year-old with a gunshot wound to the chest at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital that Wednesday evening. A third police officer has since been arrested.