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New York, NY (September 22, 2026) – Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the following statement after the Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath announced that a grand jury will not charge anyone in the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, who disappeared on Mississippi’s Horn Island, during the July 4 holiday weekend.
“When I stood over Nolan Wells’ casket two months ago, I said we wanted answers. A no true bill is not an answer to how 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells left for an outing with friends and never came home. We will not confuse the absence of an indictment with the presence of an answer.
Christine and Elmore’s son is gone. His cause and manner of death remain undetermined. His parents still do not know exactly how Nolan died. And serious questions remain, including about the blunt-force injuries to his head.
In my eulogy at Nolan’s funeral, I called for every stone to be rolled back and every veil torn away so that the truth could come out. That demand did not expire with this grand jury.
While we strongly disagree with the conclusion that there was no criminal wrongdoing, we will not allow today’s decision to become the final word on Nolan’s death.
We will continue to demand answers, pursue accountability, and mobilize with even greater resolve until justice is served.
Mississippi’s history painfully teaches us exactly why families should never be expected to simply accept unanswered questions surrounding the death of a young Black person. Transparency and accountability matter. The truth matters. Nolan’s life mattered.
I stood with Christine and Elmore Wells when they buried their son, and I stand with them now. They deserve compassion. They deserve dignity. And most of all, they deserve the truth.”
Editor’s Note: The Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath’s recorded comments (which is linked below) illustrates the corrupt nature of America’s racist justice system.
A few things DA McIlrath said that highlights her obvious bias:
(1) “The family, the Crump team, and anyone close to Nolan knew that his disappearance and death were not the result of racial hate or violence.”
On what basis can DA McIlrath prove this?
(2) “Nolan chose to stay on the island that day, and there is not a scintilla of evidence to contradict that.”
Is there “a scintilla” of evidence DA McIlrath can produce, for the public, to prove “Nolan chose to stay on the island that day?”
(3) “The Crump team knew better, but allowed the public to believe, among other false narratives, that our medical examiner withheld Nolan’s lungs and stomach when his body was released, that things had been deleted off of Nolan’s phone before it was given back to his family, that I refused to cooperate with the examination of Nolan cell phone, that I refuse to provide Nolan’s autopsy results to the family. All lies.”
DA McIlrath, is it a lie that these “friends,” while not returning with Nolan, somehow, returned to their homes with Nolan phone and keys?
(4) “What we have seen happen in Nolan’s case, where lives and reputations have been damaged, is reprehensible. People have suffered. Public offices have been harassed. Witnesses, public officials, and others who are completely unrelated to this case have been subjected to threats of harm and intimidation by an angry mob.”
What “angry mob” is she talking about? The people trying to get answers regarding how Nolan died? Has anyone “suffered” more than Nolan Wells’ family?
(5)“The secrecy of the grand jury is not a veil that we hide behind. It is a shield that protects the integrity of prosecutions of the guilty and is meant to protect the innocent from the destruction of false allegations.”
Are we really to believe crooked district attorneys don’t use “The secrecy of the grand jury” as “a veil” to coverup the crimes of prominent people, who are also their close personal friends?
DA McIlrath, in her defense attorney-like statement, showed us she does not care about Nolan Wells, or his family. What she proved is that her concern is for the white so-called “friends” of Nolan Wells, who she defended in her dumb recorded statement below.
View Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath statement.
