He danced to blue light — then died
Police under scrutiny after shooting of a Down syndrome teen
● Three witnesses have given harrowing accounts of Nathaniel Julies’s last moments.
Lesaine McMaster, 29, described how, moments before Julies, 16, was shot, the boy was chatting to a group of police officers.
It was casual. McMaster said that at one point Julies was even dancing to the flickering blue lights of the police van, parked about 5m away.
Seconds later a shot rang out.
Soon after that Julies’s body was thrown into the back of a police van “like a piece of rubbish” and the van sped off.
The Down syndrome teenager was allegedly shot by a police officer. It happened near Julies’s home in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg, at about 8.30pm on Wednesday.
Police took Julies to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital where he later died.
The three witnesses are understood to be key to an investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
All three have denied claims by Gauteng premier David Makhura that Julies was an accidental casualty, caught in the middle of a shootout between police and gangsters.
Instead, they pointed to a possible police cover-up.
The killing sparked violent protests that left several people injured and the suburb was locked down for two days.
Two officers were arrested on Friday. Several people said the shooter was a local police officer.
Ipid’s investigation will use independent experts in forensics, ballistics and crime scene reconstruction.
McMaster said he saw a police van turn into the parking lot of a block of flats near where Julies was shot moments later.
“There were four of them [police officers] who got out and Scorpion was the one driving. They were trying to look into a truck and a bakkie [parked in the street] with their torches,” he said.
“They ... turned the van around so it was facing the road. Then they saw the laaitie [youngster] standing by the truck eating his biscuits. I could hear them talking to him from inside the van but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
“He didn’t seem worried by them. I remember seeing him dancing by himself. I carried on walking when I heard the shot go off.
“I turned around and saw two of them [police officers] rushing with him to the bakkie and then they sped off,” he said.
Another witness, Simone Page, 23, said she had been watching TV when she heard a shot. She looked out of her window to see what had happened.
“There was nobody around. Usually it’s very busy in the neighbourhood at that time of night, but it was empty.
“I think when people saw the police they all scattered because they fear being arrested for violating the curfew,” said Page.
She said that in the seconds that followed the single shot, she saw a policeman hurriedly dragging the boy by his shoulders, his feet leaving a trail in the dust.
“I saw the policeman dragging Nathaniel by his shoulders towards the van. Another policeman ran to help him. They dropped him at the back of the van and opened the door. Then they lifted him up and threw Nathaniel inside.”
She said the police turned off the blue lights and sped away.
“They threw Nathaniel in the back of the van like he was rubbish, there was nothing gentle about what they did to him.
“I’ll never forget what they did to him. He was no threat and he was a gentle boy. He was just eating his biscuits,” she said.
Another witness, who asked not to be named, said she was standing outside her home when she saw Julies standing near a parked truck.
“A police van came in, turned around and [they] shouted [at Julies] and he walked around the side of the truck when a gunshot went off.
“He fell and rolled under the truck. One of the officers got out and dragged him [from] under the truck, picked him up and threw him at the back of the van,” she said.
“They drove off and not long after that an unmarked car came, and men clad in normal clothes got out and picked up the bullet shell and covered the blood with sand using their feet,” she said.
All three witnesses have made statements to Ipid.
Ipid spokesperson Ndileka Cola said two of the four officers present at the time of the shooting were arrested on Friday night after “careful consideration of evidence”. She said they faced charges of “murder and possibly defeating the ends of justice”.
She said the other two police officers were also being investigated for any role they may have played.
“We are looking at everyone who was in that vehicle. We are calling in various experts to help us reconstruct the scene,” she said.
Gauteng police spokesperson Brig Mathapelo Peters said the four officers would not be suspended unless this was recommended by Ipid.
She would not comment further. Eldorado Park councillor Peter Rafferty dismissed Makhura’s version of events.
“There was no crossfire. There was only one shot that was fired and that was the police.”
He said the police took Julies to the hospital and other officers came to the scene later.
“They came and they collected the shell casing and left. The scene was never cordoned off. That’s called tampering with evidence.”
The two police officers arrested will appear in the Protea magistrate’s court in Soweto tomorrow.