Football prodigy who was SHOT DEAD scores goal from the grave as Mexican mourners bundle coffin in BIZARRE stunt (VIDEO)

Teammates of a 16-year-old who was shot dead in an alleged act of mistaken identity by police have given him a goalscoring send-off by bouncing a ball off his coffin and into a goal before descending on his casket in Mexico.

Hundreds of mourners cried and protested as Alexander Martinez, a US-Mexican who was affiliated with club Monterrey, was buried in his home village of Vicente Camalote after reportedly being mistaken for a criminal during a trip to a shop on Tuesday.

Twelve of his teammates took part in a farewell match on a plaza pitch where Martinez played before one of them kicked a ball against his coffin, watching it rebound beyond a goalkeeper and into a goal as the crowd of youngsters descended on the casket to celebrate.

Flowers and shirts from Monterrey and French giants Paris Saint-Germain were later draped over the coffin at the end of a week of street protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in the US and repeated reports of similar incidents in Mexico.

Friends of Martinez carried signs bearing the words "Justice for Alexander" during the emotional send-off for the teenager who had moved to Mexico from North Carolina four years ago.

"We came in a caravan from town with the support of all the people, who told us to keep going," Martinez's father, Teodoro, told AP.

"We are not going to give them much time to get to the bottom of this."

Martinez senior said he feared he would not be able to return to the area from his North Carolina home because of visa requirements, although relatives met officials in an attempt to pinpoint exactly what had happened in a killing that the town government claimed had not taken place "in bad faith."

An officer was taken into custody and is expected to face a judge on murder charges over the shooting, which fatally injured Martinez and wounded another youth when they were part of a group of about nine young people who were said to have failed to stop ther motorcycles at a checkpoint.

"The police talk about it being an accident," said Oaxaca state prosecutor Ruben Vasconcelos, explaining that investigators were looking into whether police tampered with the shooting scene.

"We don't believe that." 

The village is in an area with high levels of street and organized crime, causing the state security agency to send officers to the town and soldiers to run checkpoints.

Footage of the footballers playing in front of the coffin was watched by millions of people on social media, drawing a wide range of responses including tributes, jokes and questions around the wisdom of holding mass ceremonies during a pandemic.

"How difficult it is to see a friend who is leaving so young, with so much to live for," said one. "Hopefully justice will be done."