By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) – The family of an 18-year-old Black man whose body was found on a Mississippi barrier island following a Fourth of July trip with friends called on Monday for a federal investigation into his death after a grand jury declined to indict anyone.
Here are some details:
• Last month, a grand jury unanimously declined to indict anyone in the death of the Black teenager Nolan Wells.
• Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said there was no evidence to support allegations that Wells’ disappearance and death were racially motivated.
• Wells’ family pushed back on the grand jury’s findings that there was no evidence of criminal conduct, saying they did not get answers about what happened.
• US civil rights advocates and prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump sought a comprehensive investigation and transparency from authorities on Wells’ death.
• Wells’ body was found on July 6 on the northwest end of Horn Island, a barrier island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, after he went missing during a Fourth of July weekend trip with friends from nearby Ocean Springs.
• The case of Wells’ death developed from a local investigation into an incident drawing national scrutiny.
• Although authorities had not alleged foul play, questions were raised in the weeks after his death by family members, civil rights leaders and others about transparency, accountability and disparities in attention to cases involving Black victims.
• “Our son was found on federal land and we are asking the FBI to step in and do a full investigation,” said Elmore Wonsley, Wells’ father, on Monday.
• Florida US Representative Frederica Wilson, a Democrat, earlier called on the National Park Service to investigate Wells’ death on Horn Island, which is overseen by the NPS.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Thomas Derpinghaus)
