‘Family will not be left in the dark,’ Al Sharpton says of Nolan Wells’ death probe
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Al Sharpton will join Nolan Wells’ family and Ben Crump at a noon Friday news conference.
- Wells’ body was found off Horn Island after a Fourth of July boat trip and was released.
- They will call for a full, transparent investigation and release of all records.
Rev. Al Sharpton plans to join the family of deceased 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells of Ocean Springs and their attorney, Ben Crump, at a news conference at noon Friday at the New House of Justice in Harlem, a news release from Crump’s office says.
Wells’ body was found Monday morning in the water off Horn Island after he joined other teens on a boat for the Fourth of July. After the official autopsy in Mississippi, his body was released to the family. Crump told broadcaster Don Lemon on Wednesday that the body was being flown to Washington, D.C., for an autopsy. Crump expected to have results Friday.
At the news conference, the news release said, “They will call for a full and transparent investigation, and the timely release of all investigative records and findings, and will demand the answers his family deserves about how their son was left behind on a remote island and never made it home.”
Wells is Black, while the friends that he rode out to Horn Island with are white.
Sharpton, a longtime civil rights activist, is president of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization with chapters across the country.
Sharpton’s NAN is supporting the family, the news release says.
“A young man left his home to celebrate the Fourth of July with friends, and he never came back,” Sharpton said in the news release. “His mother deserves answers, and his family deserves the truth.
“We are not here to jump ahead of the facts. We are here to demand that the facts come to light, fully, honestly, and without delay. That means a complete and transparent investigation. That means releasing every record.
“Nolan Xavier Wells was 18 years old with his whole life in front of him, and this family will not be left in the dark. We stand with them, and we will not stop until every question is answered.”
This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 10:18 AM.
