Nathaniel “Lockie” Julies, a 16 year-old boy with

down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

, was fatally shot allegedly by

South African Police Service The South African Police Service (SAPS) is the national police force of the Republic of South Africa. Its 1,154 police stations in South Africa are divided according to the provincial borders, and a Provincial Commissioner is appointed in ea ...

(SAPS) officers Sergeant Simon ‘Scorpion’ Ndyalvane and Constable Caylene Whiteboy on the 26 August 2020. A third suspect, Detective Voster Netshiongolo, appeared before the

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

Magistrate’s Court. Julies was shot meters away from his home in the Eldorado Park area of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

Incident

It was initially reported by Gauteng premier

David Makhura Manemolla David Makhura (born 22 February 1968) is a South African politician. He served as the 6th Premier of Gauteng following his election in 2014 until his resignation in October 2022. He was also a member of the Member of the Gauteng Provi ...

that Julies was killed in crossfire between SAPS personnel and gang members. The Julies family have stated that he was at a local

tuck shop A tuck shop is a small retailer located either within or close-to the grounds of a school, hospital, apartment complex, or other similar facility. In traditional British usage, tuck shops are associated chiefly with the sale of confectionery, sw ...

buying biscuits when the shooting occurred. Officers allegedly involved in the shooting stated that Julies was shot after allegedly failing to respond to police questioning. Media reports stated that Julies died before reaching hospital.

Witness accounts

An unidentified family member told the media that after purchasing two packs of biscuits Julies joined other nearby children in front of the Hillbrow flats where police first approached him. His father stated that Julies was approached by SAPS officers who tried to question him. The officers were unable to understand Julies and they moved on to questioning another person nearby. After officers had finished questioning and searching the second person, nearby Sergeant Simon 'Scorpion' Ndyalvane got out of a vehicle and shot Julies at close range with a pump action shotgun. The force of the shot propelled Julies' body under a truck. Shortly after the shooting police dragged his body out from under the truck and removed him from the scene. Eyewitnesses stated that there was no gang presence in the area.

Aftermath

The shooting highlighted longstanding community grievances with the operation of the Eldorado Park police station. Violent protest action broke out, with two SAPS officers and one

Municipal Police Municipal police, city police, or local police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government. This includes the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive funding ...

officer injured, amidst threats by the community to burn down the police station. A petition calling for the

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

of those involved in the shooting was signed by over 120,000 people. Minister of Police

Bheki Cele Bhekokwakhe "Bheki" Hamilton Cele (born 22 April 1952) has been the South African Minister of Police since February 2018. He was National Commissioner of the South African Police Service for two years, until misconduct allegations led to his su ...

said that the actions of the officers implicated in Julies' death were "uncalled for". A tweet from American musician

Solange Knowles Solange Piaget Knowles (; born June 24, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, performance artist, and actress. Expressing an interest in music from an early age, Knowles had several temporary stints as a backup dancer for Destiny's Child, whi ...

increased awareness of the incident outside of South Africa, mentioning Julies' death along with those of Oluwatoyin Salau and of

Breonna Taylor Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American woman, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment on March 13, 2020, when at least seven police officers forced entry into the apartment as part of an investigation into drug dealing op ...

in the United States. Eldorado Park community members criticised the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party for trying to politicise the event and "disrespecting" the funeral procession. At the time of Julies' death he was the second child to have been killed by police action in South Africa in August 2020. The

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...

organisation Viewfinder found that thirty-nine children died in SAPS custody or due to SAPS action between April 2012 and March 2018, and that very few officers were held accountable for the deaths.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Julies, Nathaniel 2020 deaths 2020 in South Africa Deaths by firearm in South Africa Protests in South Africa Law enforcement in South Africa People shot dead by law enforcement officers in South Africa History of Johannesburg