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Hundreds gathered Monday to mourn Nolan Wells, the Mississippi teenager whose death after a Fourth of July boating trip with friends has fueled national attention and growing demands for answers.
Hours before the funeral service at Center Pointe Church, people were seen waiting in line, including nearly all of Wells’ high school football team. Many of the mourners were seen dressed in black and blue — the colors of Wells’ high school team — per the family’s request.
Ahead of the service, a slideshow of photos of Wells, his friends, and his family was played alongside gospel music. Rev. Al Sharpton is scheduled to deliver a eulogy for the service that began just after noon local time, and the Wells family’s attorney, Ben Crump, is set to deliver the call for justice. NBC News saw Wells’ casket arrive at the church just before 9 a.m. local time.
Wells, 18, went missing on July 4 after traveling to Mississippi’s Horn Island for the holiday. His body was found on the shores of Mississippi’s Horn Island days later.
“I want to give all thanks and honor and glory to God for choosing Elmore and me to be Nolan’s parents,” Wells’ mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley, said at the funeral. “We thank you, Lord, for the beautiful 18 years that you blessed us with him.”
“Nolan had such a gentle, calming spirit about him. He had a way of making people feel seen, welcome, and valued,” she continued. “He could lift your confidence with just a few words, and make you feel like you belonged.”
Wells-Wonsley called her son “protective and nurturing,” and spoke about how he once told her he wanted to have three daughters.
“Your absence has left an emptiness that can never truly be filled,” she said, addressing Wells. “In a world that can often feel dark, be like Nolan, be the light that brightens the lives of those around you.”
Elmore Wonsley, Wells’ father also spoke, noting how proud he was of his son, who he called a model for his younger brothers.
“You give up to be a very young man that everyone enjoyed to be around,” Wonsley said, also noting his son was often kind to his peers in school.
Wells was “a great young man to coach, and we’re going to miss him dearly for it,” Ocean Springs High School head coach Jake Bramlett told NBC News ahead of Wells’ funeral. “But a little bit of his life that we got to be a part of was outstanding.”
Bramlett described how important it was for the team to show up and support their former teammate, noting that “they’ve done a great job with supporting one Nolan’s younger siblings that are on the football team.”
A number of the current players “were brought up under [Wells’] wing,” Bramlett said. “He taught them how to act in the locker room, how to act in the weight room, how to perform on the football field, and that’s just who Nolan was.”
Last week, Crump, along with Wells’ parents spoke to the media about the pending funeral arrangements.
“What we’re going to do is kind of have a party to celebrate him,” Wells-Wonsley said of her son Wednesday. “We want to celebrate him, and he would not want us to be sitting around crying and eating.”
The “party” will be held at Jackson County Fairgrounds, she said, for friends, family and Wells’ teammates.
Crump also noted last week that Tyler Perry will be paying for the funeral. In his eulogy Monday, Sharpton thanked Spike Lee and Terrell Owens for being there.
Wells and a group of friends went to Horn Island, off the coast of Mississippi, to celebrate July 4. The friends returned to the mainland later that afternoon and told police Wells opted to stay behind, saying he would catch a ride back later with others.
When he didn’t return home that night, his mother reported him missing around midnight. A U.S. park ranger found Wells’ body on the northwest shore of Horn Island on July 6.
It remains unclear how Wells died. Officials have not yet released an autopsy report as the investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death intensified.
Crump and Wells’ parents have said they are leading their own investigation into his death, and performed an independent autopsy on Wells. Crump thanked Colin Kaepernick for paying for the independent autopsy at the news conference Wednesday.
Those who knew Wells remembered him fondly in the weeks following his death.
“Nolan as a person I can say was an amazing human being,” said Daniel Pickens, a friend from high school. “I’ve never heard anyone talk down on him. He truly lit up every room that he walked into. He was a stand-up, genuine and A-1 guy.”
He added, “It’s just so sad to see a gentle soul go out like that.”
Dan Gallo contributed.