(NEW YORK) — A viral video depicting a Fourth of July party at a barrier island off the coast of Mississippi does not depict an argument involving Nolan Wells, a childhood friend of the late teen, said to ABC News Sunday in a broadcast exclusive.
Wells, an 18-year-old Mississippi football player, died last weekend following an all-day party on Horn Island, off the coast of Ocean Springs, his hometown. Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Wells’ parents, said Friday that Wells is among a group of people standing on the island and is heard on the video, shot from a boat on the water, demanding his phone back. However, Tracestin Shepherd, a long-time Wells friend, said the voice heard on the video was his own. Wells is not in the video, he said.
“That’s me yelling. … there was no talk about a phone in that video,” but instead, Shepherd said, he was telling both friend Jayvon Williams, and a family member, who were both restraining him, to let him off the boat so he could continue the fight. “Nolan wasn’t on the island” at that time, he claimed.
Shepherd said the altercation was between him and another man, a stranger, who allegedly started a fight with him. He said that he and his group of friends, which included Wells, had been drinking alcohol since the late morning after multiple boats, all containing his friends, arrived on the island for an outing that had been planned to be “one last hurrah” before returning to either school or work after the holiday break. About 300 people, many of them former high school classmates, were concentrated on their portion of the island.
Later in the day, after being told the boat needed to return to shore due to an electrical issue, Wells said he wanted to stay behind because he met a girl and would return on another friend’s boat, Shepherd said.
Wells’ body was recovered on Monday in water off the island shore. Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter told ABC News he suspects Wells drowned, but is still investigating. An autopsy is being conducted by the state medical examiner. The results are pending, said Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd Jr.
Shepherd said he and Wells were among a tight circle of friends who had known each other since their freshman year at Ocean Springs High School. Shepherd, 20, said Wells “was just somebody that you automatically just felt so comfortable to talk to” and they bonded through athletics. Their friend group was “very diverse” in race and ethnicity, and he said they all had one thing in common: Admiration for Wells.
“Nobody would ever hurt Nolan in our friend group. We would die for him. We would do everything in our power for that guy. If he needed anything, we would do it,” he said. “Nolan brought us all together.”
Shepherd declined to be interviewed on camera out of fear for his safety. He said he and other friends have been besieged by death threats since Wells’ body was found last Monday from people accusing them of playing a role in his death.
He said he wanted to speak publicly because he wanted to set the record straight due to what he said was misinformation and speculation swirling online. Crump told “Good Morning America” Thursday that a key piece of evidence was Wells’ phone, which he said was retrieved from his friends — something he said was suspicious.
Shepherd said it was very common for everyone to leave their phones in boats. He said few videos or photos exist from that day because “everybody was in the water” and not on their phones.
“All our friends are out there. Who are we communicating with? And we’re in salt water. We’re not in fresh water,” he said.
Wells, he said, placed his phone in the boat of one of their friends. “When Nolan got in the water, he put his phone on the [boat] dash also with probably 15 other phones.” Shepherd’s uncle, who asked not to be named and was piloting one of the boats that day, said it is normal for people in the boating community to ignore their phones while on the water.
“That’s not uncommon. I’ve even gotten home and had phones on my deck; I didn’t know whose they were. They come and get the phones later. Out there, they can give a care less about their phone. They get up in the boat, take a picture, set it down, get back in the water,” he said.
Ledbetter told ABC News that Crump has not yet turned over Wells’ phone to his investigators. Crump said Friday that the family planned to turn over the phone after they conducted their own independent investigation.
Shepherd also said that a photo that Crump shared on his Instagram, which supposedly shows Wells at a pool party, was not from July 5, as the caption claims. He said the party took place on June 27 in nearby Pass Christian, Mississippi.
Investigators from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department talked to Shepherd and his group of friends on Monday and on Friday he gave an official statement.
He said he is upset by the suggestion from Crump that race may have played a role in Wells’ death. As a result, he said, he and his friends have become targets. “They’re trying to spin a narrative that’s not there,” he said. “He’s wrong.”
“I understand [Wells’] parents are grieving and I really think he’s taken a little bit of advantage of that. And I don’t like that. I really don’t because they’re vulnerable,” he said.
Shepherd said he wants “everybody just to relax and let everybody mourn the loss of Nolan. And let us remember him as the sweet guy he was and not something we’re scared of because of the trauma we’ve had,” he said. “If Ben Crump is doing his own investigation, let him do it. And then let the sheriff’s office conclude with their investigation and figure out what the facts are on their end. Let us all just know the truth instead of jumping to two conclusions about things.”
“We all cared and loved Nolan, and nobody wanted to see Nolan die. Nobody wanted his life taken so short,” he said. “He had everything going for him.”
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.