Brother of Beanie Wells fatally shot
AKRON — Joel Wells apparently was taking his infant daughter to day care when he made a stop at a friend’s house in East Akron and was shot to death.
The 31-year-old Akron man was the brother of former NFL and Ohio State University running back Beanie Wells.
Beanie Wells, an Akron native, said he was devastated.
“He was a best friend. He was 11 months older than me,” Beanie Wells said. “We were attached at the hip.”
Beanie Wells drove from his home in the Columbus area to his mother’s house in Green after learning of his brother’s death on Wednesday.
Akron police were called about 8 a.m. to a shooting, and officers found Joel Wells in a driveway in the area of Seventh Avenue and Weeks Street.
He was pronounced dead at the scene with a gunshot wound to the head.
As of Thursday evening, police had identified no suspects. Beanie, left, and his brother Joel Wells are pictured in a family photo. Joel Wells was fatally shot Thursday morning in East Akron.
Beanie Wells said he is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Crimestoppers Inc. is offering up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment. Additionally, anonymous donors associated with Ohio State University are offering a $10,000 reward, Beanie Wells told a Cleveland television station.
People in the area of the shooting Thursday morning told police they “heard shots fired and went outside and saw a newer black Jeep with tinted windows and a temporary [license] tag leaving the scene,” Akron police spokesman Lt. Edwards said.
Beanie Wells said he heard that his brother stopped at the friend’s house after realizing his daughter needed to have her diaper changed.
The baby was inside the house at the time of the shooting, Wells said. He said his brother apparently went back to his vehicle to get a diaper bag and was shot.
Joel Wells was a “fun-loving guy ... a jokester,” and a loving father to his five daughters, Beanie Wells said. Joel Wells helped to manage property owned by his brother and worked with a trucking company also owned by his brother.
Joel Wells was in the news a few years ago in connection with a case in which his brother was the victim of extortion.
The FBI said in 2016 that Franklin Conley and Patrick Griffin, both of Akron, had threatened Beanie Wells and his family unless they paid them up to $175,000.
The money was to make up for what Conley and Griffin lost to a Mexican drug dealer they had met through Joel Wells, the FBI said.
Conley was convicted of extortion and other crimes and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Griffin — a quadriplegic — avoided prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to extortion. A federal judge at the time decided that the costs and hurdles of sending Griffin to medical care in a prison were too great and instead sentenced him to house arrest and a fine.
But this June, Griffin was sentenced to 17½ years in prison in federal court in a separate case. Prosecutors said he ran a drug pipeline between California and Akron.
Anyone with information about the case can contact the Akron Police Department Detective Bureau at 330375-2490 or the Summit County Crimestoppers Inc. at 330-434-COPS. People also can text TIPSCO along with tips to 274637. Tipsters can remain anonymous.