By Rep. Kabir Karriem
How many unanswered questions is a family supposed to bury with a child?
Nolan Wells was 18 years old when he died after a Fourth of July trip to Horn Island. Kohen Wiley was just 1 year old when he was killed by police gunfire in Senatobia. These are different cases, but both families are asking Mississippi officials for the facts about their children’s deaths. Neither family should have to beg to be heard.
I am deeply disappointed that a Jackson County grand jury declined to indict anyone in Nolan’s death. Knowing Mississippi’s history, I cannot pretend I am surprised. What troubles me most is how quickly an accidental drowning became the public explanation, even though the medical evidence has not established how Nolan died.
Nolan’s mother says Sheriff John Ledbetter told her shortly after her son’s body was recovered that he believed the death was accidental and saw no foul play. Gov. Tate Reeves later expressed confidence in the local investigation and said he had seen no evidence of foul play. Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell warned about misinformation surrounding the case. Those words helped shape what the public was being asked to believe while Nolan’s family was still searching for answers.
The state autopsy reports no fluid or debris in Nolan’s airways and an empty stomach. Both the state medical examiner and the pathologist retained by his family identified bruising on the back of his head. The independent pathologist also reported recent, unexplained blunt-force injuries to his head and back. Neither examiner could determine the cause or manner of his death.
Those findings do not prove a crime or rule out drowning. They do raise a question officials must face: Why was the public led toward an accidental explanation when the medical examiner could not determine how Nolan died?
Someone died, damn it. Nolan’s family deserves to know how he sustained those injuries and what happened in his final hours.
Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath says there is no evidence that Nolan’s death was racially motivated. I will not present suspicion as proof. But I take issue with her assertion that Nolan’s family and those close to him knew his death was not the result of racial hate or violence. She can speak for the evidence presented to the grand jury. She cannot speak for a grieving family.
Nolan’s family has made the state autopsy report public. The district attorney should now release as much of the remaining investigative file as the law permits, with appropriate protections for sensitive information. I support the family’s request for an independent federal review. If credible new evidence emerges, it must be pursued.
Kohen’s family is waiting on a different decision. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has sent its findings on his fatal shooting to Attorney General Lynn Fitch, but his family is still seeking the body-camera and surveillance footage. They deserve to see what happened when officers fired and their baby was killed.
Attorney General Fitch is running for governor. I hope and pray she will communicate directly with Kohen’s family, arrange for them to see the footage promptly and release it publicly as soon as legally possible. If she delays its release, she should explain why. Her duty is to follow the evidence, not to pander to a political base.
The prophet Micah tells us what is required: “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” —Micah 6:8.
Justice demands that officials pursue the facts. Mercy demands that they treat these families with compassion. Humility demands that they acknowledge what they do not yet know.
One family is asking how their son died. Another is asking to see what happened when police fired and their baby was killed. I cannot imagine a more basic request from a parent. Nolan and Kohen cannot speak for themselves. Their families are speaking for them now, and Mississippi has a duty to listen — and to answer.
