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(NEW YORK) -- A Mississippi community is mourning the death of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells, whose body was believed to be recovered after going missing over the weekend.

Wells vanished after going on a boat trip with friends on the 4th of July, officials said. He was last seen on Horn Island, a barrier island about 10 miles from the Gulf Coast, officials said.

"[The friends] left [Horn Island] and went back without Nolan," Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said. "From what we understand, he chose to stay there."

Wells' mother reported him missing and took to social media, pleading for help.

The sheriff's department said it launched a search on Horn Island with officials from the Coast Guard, Department of Marine Resources and Gulf Islands National Seashore.

A body was recovered Monday morning, according to family attorney Ben Crump.

On Monday, Ledbetter told ABC News the coroner was still waiting on a DNA test, but said the body matches the description and is likely Wells.

Authorities said they suspect Wells drowned, but are still investigating.

The sheriff said investigators do not suspect foul play.

"There's no information that we have right now that would lead us to believe that a crime has occurred," he said.

Wells' mother, Christine Wonsley, wrote on social media on Monday that she was "absolutely devastated."

"My heart is broken for our sweet son who was always willing to cheer and uplift others," she said. "Nolan was a special soul."

Wells' family "is calling for a thorough and transparent investigation into how Nolan died," according to a statement from Crump's practice.

"We will not rest until every fact about what happened to Nolan on Horn Island is brought into the light, and we call on investigators to pursue this case with the urgency and transparency this family deserves," Crump said in a statement.

The Ocean Springs School District said in a statement that it's "shocked and heartbroken."

Wells graduated last year from Ocean Springs High School, where he was a multi-sport athlete, and he went on to play football at Southwest Mississippi Community College, the district said.

"We are devastated by Nolan's passing. He was the kind of son, teammate, friend, and student that every coach hopes to have in a program," the high school's football coach Jake Bramlett said in a statement. "Nolan was so much more than an outstanding football player. He carried himself with humility, treated others with respect, worked hard, and led by example. His character spoke louder than his accomplishments, and he was loved deeply by his teammates and coaches."

Principal Jacob Dykes added, "He will be remembered as an extremely kind and hardworking young man who left a lasting impression on his teachers, coaches, teammates, and community. Our thoughts are with his family and the many people he made a lasting impact on."

ABC News' Mark Guarino and Joy Piazza-Ruppert contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) -- Several Midtown Manhattan blocks were evacuated Tuesday morning after construction workers discovered the structure of a massive office building being converted into residential housing was compromised on the 21st floor, officials said.

The building at 235 E. 42nd Street has continued to move as engineers and first responders work to secure the site, with fears there could be a partial collapse, officials said at a press conference.

The city established a frozen zone for several blocks surrounding the building following the 911 calls that were made around 8:00 a.m. after workers "observed structural support beams beginning to buckle," the NYPD said.

That caused the 21st through 26th floors of the building to start caving under the stress, officials from FDNY and the city's Department of Buildings said.

The fear, officials said, is a partial collapse, which could be internal. A full collapse onto the street is less likely, Fire Chief John Esposito said at Tuesday's news conference. 

"The building has continued to move since we have been on scene," Esposito told reporters. "It does mean it is not yet stable."

Esposito said that when first responders arrived, the building had moved, but a city official told ABC News around 2:45 p.m. that the building had not moved for two hours.

A team of six people was able to enter the building around 3 p.m. to determine if it was safe to begin shoring efforts, according to the official.

There were no reported injuries and all construction workers were safely evacuated, according to police.

Structural engineers monitored the building's movement from the outside, New York City Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani told reporters.

"There is extensive work going on now to evaluate the situation," he said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that a frozen zone was set up between 40th and 45th Streets and 1st and 3rd Avenues. Those streets are closed to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

The 37-story commercial building, formerly the Pfizer headquarters, is currently undergoing renovations to convert it into a residential building, according to the DOB. It is one of the largest office-to-apartment conversion projects in city history, officials said.

Metro Loft, the developer of the conversion project, said in a statement that it is working with the Department of Buildings as it investigates the situation.

"The safety of our workers and the public has always been, and remains, our top priority," the developer said.

This building has seven violations between July and December 2025, resulting in more than $32,000 in fines issued, according to DOB records.

The mayor said that seven other buildings near 235 East 42nd Street were also evacuated, including a nearby Hampton Inn, according to officials.

Mamdani said at an unrelated news conference earlier Tuesday morning that among the evacuated locations was a school with 400 students.

"I want to be honest with New Yorkers that this is a fast-developing situation. We are taking it minute by minute," he told reporters.

The mayor added that the people living and working in the frozen zone will get updates and thanked them for cooperating with the evacuations.

Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement, saying she is in contact with city officials and state building inspectors are also on the scene.

ABC News' Nicole Katchis and Tonya Simpson contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) -- The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging the Trump administration has been sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government.

According to the complaint filed in Washington, D.C., many Iranian asylum seekers are pro-democracy protesters, members of religious minorities, or members of the LGBTQ community who seek refuge in the U.S. "because of the grave dangers they face in Iran."

"Disclosing their confidential information to the Iranian Government violates the asylum seekers' confidentiality rights, puts those who are subject to removal to Iran, directly or through chain refoulement via third countries, at risk of persecution, torture, and death following their arrival in Iran, and endangers their family members and acquaintances who may still be residing in Iran," the group said in the complaint.

More than 100 people have been deported to Iran during the Trump administration, according to the IALDF.

The group wrote in the complaint that while the U.S. government may coordinate logistics with receiving countries, federal regulations prohibit the sharing of information that would "reveal or infer that the individual to be removed had applied for asylum."

"Disclosing their confidential information to the Iranian government violates federal regulations requiring confidentiality, endangers their family members and acquaintances who may still be residing in Iran, and puts those who are subject to removal to Iran at risk of persecution, torture, and death following their arrival in Iran," said Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group that is representing the IALDF. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which operates Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement to ABC News, "These allegations that ICE shared asylum application records with the Iranian government are FALSE."

"ICE meets and works to get travel documents for detainees with every country. ICE is committed to ensuring that illegal aliens are informed of their right to communicate with their consular representatives," the statement said. "Consistent with established protocols, ICE provides illegal aliens the opportunity to contact their consular post and facilitates consular access to detained individuals, in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and agency policy."

A representative of the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

The IALDF complaint alleges that the Trump administration has continued to share confidential information during the current war between the U.S. and Iran. The group claims the two governments held monthly meetings to share the immigration files of Iranians in ICE custody, including final orders of removal and applications for asylum.

While the monthly in-person meetings reportedly stopped before the war began on Feb. 28, the group alleges that ICE has "continued to mail or hand deliver document packages to the Iranian Interest Section."

The complaint also alleges that Iranian officials have met with dozens of detainees at ICE facilities. 

"Many of the Iranian detainees did not consent to meet with the Iranian Interest Section officials but were required to do so by ICE," the filing says.

"According to Iranian detainees who met with an Iranian Interest Section official, the official had knowledge of their immigration cases, including the details of their asylum applications," the suit said. "These nonconsensual meetings with the Interest Section official solidified the detainees' belief that they had been identified to the very same repressive government that they had fled."

The IALDF is asking a federal judge in Washington to block the government from providing confidential information to the Iranian government and to appoint a special master to review the files of Iranian detainees that have already been shared.

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