Nolan Wells (middle) was an 18-year-old football wide receiver from Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Following his death after going missing for two days during a Fourth of July trip with his friends, his family is demanding answers and Tyler Perry (left) and Colin Kaepernick (right) are stepping in with financial help. (Courtesy:@tylerperry , @christine.fnp , @kaepernick7/Instagram)
Filmmaker Tyler Perry and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick are helping the family of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, following his death last week.
Perry is helping the family by covering some of the teenager’s funeral costs and Kaepernick is helping fund an independent autopsy.
Wells went on a Fourth of July trip with his friends to Horn Island, off the Mississpi coast and strangely disappeared and was found dead two days later in the water.
Christine and Elmore Wonsley, the parents of Wells, are skeptical of his friends’ claim that their son asked to be left on the island. They also believe that an accidental drowning is unlikely, as their son was an athlete.
Although, law enforcement has not confirmed any evidence of crime at this time.
Perry made a statement on social media last week sending his empathy for Wells’ parents, and sharing that he has been through a similar situation of seeking answers after a loss of a family member.
“As a son of the South and a person who to this day questions the death of my nephew in a Louisiana prison, and as an advocate who has been fighting for years to get answers for Marcia Williams about what happened to her son Terrance in Florida, I know what it’s like to not have the answers that loved ones so desperately need,” Perry said in his post.
Perry also states that he hopes that the truth will come to light around this case.
“It is my hope that Nolan’s parents and all who knew and loved him get to the truth of what happened in Mississippi,” he wrote.
Wells’ family and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, whom they hired to help review the case, did not have trust in local authorities to do the autopsy, and with the help of Kaepernick who contributed funding, they requested an independent autopsy.
“This is not how I wanted the world to meet my son, but here we are,” Wells’ mother Christine Wonsley said while making an emotional statement to the press.
This case has gained international attention and has sparked a debate due to the racial history in Mississippi and the fact that Wells was the only person of colour amongst the friends he was with.
Wonsley also stated that her son, Nolan, was a kind soul who loved life and all types of people, and did not like racial division. She mentioned the family did speak about these tough situations when it comes to race, however.
“Me and his dad had conversations with him all the time, not just about the importance of understanding our history as Black people, but also the importance of how you have to move in certain spaces,” said Wonsley.
On July 11, a protest took place in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where hundreds of people gathered, demanding answers for Wells’ death.
A GoFundMe has also been set up for the family that has raised over $670,000 so far.
