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One of Wells’ close friends tells Rolling Stone he’s the person who can be heard shouting in the viral video circulating online
A moment that started out as a disagreement between Tracestin Shepherd and his girlfriend has been at the center of a swirl of questions about the tragic death of 18-year-old Mississippi football player Nolan Wells. The video posted to social media of a group of young people seemingly in a heated altercation has been believed to be the last time Wells was pictured or heard on video before his disappearance and death, which has made national news. But Shepherd, a close friend of Wells, says what really happened in the video isn’t how it’s been portrayed.
At around 3:30 p.m. on July 4, Shepherd says he was with a large group of friends from high school, including Wells, to celebrate the holiday. Shepherd and his family took a boat over to Horn Island, a barrier island off the coast of Mississippi, where he planned to meet up with Wells and some other friends from high school — the friends often took the 45-minute ride over to Horn Island on weekends to hang out and had been there since that morning.
Shepherd says he was waist-deep in the water surrounding Horn Island having a disagreement with his girlfriend that afternoon when a young man his age walked by and criticized their conversation. The man was an acquaintance from a nearby town who had not come over on the boat with Shepherd or Wells.
