Ben Crump speaks in California alongside Nolan Wells' parents, October 5, 2026 (Photo from livestream)
- Congresswoman Maxine Waters was billed as headlining a press conference in California to call for a federal investigation into the death of Mississippi Coast teen Nolan Wells. She didn’t show. Who did attend was a representative from Stop AAPI Hate, a group whose political arm is pushing to flip red districts blue in November.
The parents of Nolan Wells, along with their attorney Ben Crump, were in California on Monday for a press conference that was to feature Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the 36-year incumbent Democrat seeking her 19th term in the U.S. House of Representatives this November. However, Crump opened the event by saying the congresswoman would not be in attendance.
The press conference was focused on Crump and Wells’ parent continued call for a federal investigation into the Ocean Springs’ teen’s death.
Crump said Congresswoman Waters joined in a statement, which he read, from the Congressional Black Caucus that urged the Department of Justice to look into the case as the death occurred on an island that is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Waters has been a controversial figure in Democratic politics, gaining attention for her comments during the Rodney King riots in the 1990s and calling President George H. W. Bush (R) a racist. In recent years, she has repeatedly called for the impeachment of President Donald Trump (R) and stated that the White House “is now the White Supremacists’ House.” Waters has also previously called on supporters to harass Trump administration officials when they are in public.
If Democrats win the majority in the House, the 87-year-old “Aunty Maxine,” as she is known, could return as the chair of the House Financial Services Committee.
After reading the statement from the Congressional Black Caucus, Crump took issue with how Wells’ parents have been treated on social media and in the public eye.
“It’s quite disturbing that Christine and Elmore have been getting the threats and racial slurs inflicted upon just for doing what any other parents would do,” Crump said Monday alongside Wells’ parents at Center of Hope, a church in Inglewood, California. “Nolan was Christine and Elmore’s son, but in many ways he was all of our son.”
Cynthia Choi with Stop AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islander) Hate also joined the group at the press conference. She said the fight for answers and truth “belongs to all of us.” Choi echoed Crump and said her group condemned the harassment of Wells’ parents as they seek justice for their son.
Stop AAPI Hate was founded in March 2020 “when community leaders from AAPI Equity Alliance, Chinese for Affirmative Action, and the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University joined forces in response to surging anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the organization’s website outlines. The group touts that they are “a national coalition of researchers, organizers, and activists working together to confront racism, xenophobia, and other forms of anti-AA/PI hate.”
Stop AAPI Hate announced a new associated social welfare organization, Stop AAPI Hate Action, in May that is a political and advocacy arm to counter Republicans’ attempts to redraw voting district lines. According to the Associated Press, “The nonprofit is also not trying to compete or duplicate other AAPI-focused civic engagement organizations. The group is looking beyond blue states and swing states. A primary goal is to flip red districts with a significant presence of Asian American voters and turn them blue.”
A statement from the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum executive director Christina Baal-Owens shared by Crump on Facebook also called for the Department of Justice and FBI to “conduct a thorough, independent review of the circumstances surrounding” Wells’ death. She wants the federal authorities to make clear what their involvement has been and release all information to the family that can “lawfully be released.”
Crump announced at Monday’s event that the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum had awarded Wells’ mother with their Voice of Courage award. He said that is why he and Wells’ parents were in California after being in Atlanta and Orlando for prior press conferences.
“I never thought I would be someone who was giving a voice to so many because they feel like they don’t have one,” Well’s mother said Monday. “Our child went out with young men who he thought was his friends.”
She said they are left with many inconsistent stories.
“As a healthcare professional myself, I cannot believe that,” she said of the findings that Wells’ death was consistent with drowning. “As a mother, I cannot believe that.”
Wells, an 18-year-old man, was reported missing July 4 after he did not return from an outing with friends where they were celebrating the holiday on Horn Island off of the Mississippi Coast. The friends have repeatedly said publicly that Wells chose to stay on the island and not return with them.
When Wells did not return later that evening, the friends and his parents began searching for the teen. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department took to the water to try and locate Wells with the assistance of the United Cajun Navy, the Department of Marine Resources, and the Coast Guard. Wells’ body was found the morning of July 6 on the shoreline of the island.
After an investigation into the death, Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers-McIlrath announced two weeks ago that the grand jury had unanimously returned a no true bill in the death investigation of Ocean Springs teen Nolan Wells, meaning no criminal charges or indictments would be forthcoming.
The cause and manner of death remain undetermined.
Crump and Wells’ parents have since continued their national press tour visiting racially motivated groups and cultivating the persistent speculation of potential foul despite a lack of evidence to support those claims. They want the investigation into Wells’ death to remain open and for federal authorities to intervene.
