WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was considering asking the FBI to look into the death of an 18-year-old Black man whose body was found on a Mississippi barrier island following a Fourth of July trip with friends.
Asked by reporters at the White House whether he planned to push the FBI to launch an independent investigation into the death of Nolan Wells, Trump said: “Well, we’re looking at that. Yes, we are.”
Trump’s comments come after the family of the teenager called earlier this week for a federal investigation into his death after a grand jury declined to indict anyone.
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 developed drew 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.
Last month, a grand jury unanimously declined to indict anyone in the death. Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said there was no evidence to support allegations that Wells’ disappearance and death were racially motivated.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Daphne Psaledakis; editing byu Michelle Nichols )
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