- Tyre Nichols' mother's home is mere blocks away from where Memphis police beat her son.
- Five officers have been charged with second-degree murder in Nichols' death.
MEMPHIS, Tenn — Every Saturday night, RowVaughn Wells would cook dinner for her husband and son. They would eat together.
But on the evening of January 7, the Memphis mother had a strange pain in her stomach and didn't know why.
It wasn't until hours later that she would learn that that pain coincided with some of what she now believes her son Tyre was experiencing mere blocks away.
Tyre Nichols, 29, called out for his mother three times while five police officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith — punched, kicked, and pepper-sprayed him on the street not far from his mother's home.
The officers have all been charged with second-degree murder in Nichols' death.
Standing at the pulpit of Mt. Olive Cathedral CME Church on Friday morning, Wells told reporters that nobody will ever understand how it feels to know that she was so close to where her son was severely beaten, but never heard his cries for help.
"I was telling someone that I had this really bad pain in my stomach earlier, not knowing what had happened," Wells said. "But once I found out what happened, that was my son's pain that I was feeling, and I didn't even know."
At the church, RowVaughn Wells and her husband Rodney begged for peace in the city — knowing that the body camera footage of the attack would be released several hours later.
City officials had already warned citizens of the brutality in the video, with the police chief saying it would portray "acts that defy humanity."
The video shows Nichols scream for his mom as two officers kick and hit him while he is on the ground.
"For me to find out that my son was calling my name, and I was only feet away, and I did not even hear him; you have no clue how I feel right now," Wells said on Friday.