Coast convention center likely location for Nolan Wells’ funeral. What we know
The Mississippi Coast Convention Center in Biloxi has agreed to host the funeral services of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells of Ocean Springs, whose death has gained national attention.
Visitation would be from 9-11 a.m., with a service from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Monday, July 20. Sam Voisin, executive director of the Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center, said a room at the convention center would be set up for 1,200 to 1,500 people.
Details must still be worked out so that coliseum and convention staff can manage the event. When tickets to a concert are sold, Voisin said, the coliseum knows how many people to expect and who they are. He said the staff would want to make sure funeral attendees RSVP’d, so the coliseum would know how many people to expect and who would be coming.
Metal detectors would be deployed, as they are for other events.
The commission’s board, which unanimously supported the event with one member absent, voted in support of the event and to allow Voisin and his staff to set parameters. Six members met Monday on Zoom with Voisin, the commission’s attorney and Michelle Menningmann, the assistant executive director. Commission member Anthony Del Vescovo was absent.
Harrison County Supervisor Kent Jones also attended and said he supports the service at the convention center.
The commission members said they did not know whether protesters would show up, but thought it was unlikely at the funeral.
Commission members learned the funeral would not be without precedent. Services for former U.S. Rep. Larkin Smith, who had also been a popular Harrison County sheriff and Gulfport police chief, were held at the convention center in 1989 after he died in a plane crash.
Wells’ body was found one week ago, in the morning, in the Mississippi Sound at the shoreline of Horn Island after he went missing July 4. The popular football player and student at Southwest Mississippi Community College was on the island with friends from Ocean Springs High School, where he graduated.
Rumors have circulated that Wells, who is Black, might have met a violent end. His other friends from the boat are white, as were most of the hundreds who celebrated the holiday on Horn Island.
The case has drawn national attention. Filmmaker Tyler Perry has stepped up to pay for the funeral. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing the family and conducting an independent investigation into Wells’ death.
The Coast Convention Center is one of the few places that might hold funeral attendees, family supporters have said.
Commissioners see hosting the service as a way to promote unity. Tabari Daniels, commission president, thanked his fellow members for meeting on short notice and said:
“I have a little bit of passion behind this, I guess, and it almost just feels like this is something that needs to be done. That’s why I kind of wanted to have us on, but thank you so much for being empathetic in this regard.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 4:17 PM.
