NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The man police say critically injured an ATF agent on Tuesday in an intense shootout along Murfreesboro Pike was out on parole at the time, according to Tennessee Parole Board records.
THE PAROLE BOARD RECORDINGS
Four years ago, while Corey Wellman was serving what essentially amounted to a 26-year sentence for two different drug cases, he sat in front of the state parole board, asking to be allowed to leave prison.
BREAKING: “I just need another chance at redeeming myself.” Listen to this recording from 2017, as the gunman who would later critically injure an ATF agent in yesterday’s shooting asked state parole board members to release him from prison. They did. @NC5 pic.twitter.com/N9QRYaKjgH
— Jason Lamb (@JasonLambNC5) October 6, 2021
"I've grown," Wellman told the board, as heard on a recording of the meeting obtained by NewsChannel 5.
"I just need another chance at redeeming myself and being a better individual, for myself as well as my family," Wellman told the board. "My family is old, and I've gotten old, and I need to be out there and help raise my kids."
He ended by saying he'd stay out of trouble.
"I'm absolutely positive that I'd never see this side again if granted parole," he said.
But court records show, that didn't last long.
The board granted Wellman's parole, but the following year, Wellman violated that parole by failing a drug screening. He attended a diversion program, and as a result, was then allowed back on parole.
THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION LOAN RECORDS
Data from the federal Small Business Administration shed light on some of what Wellman was doing while on parole.
According to databases from the SBA, the agency approved Wellman for a $20,829 federal PPP loan — the same loans that so many people applied for during COVID, meant to save jobs.
Wellman asked for the money to help pay his own salary for a landscaping services business he said he owned, with himself listed as the only employee, according to the federal database.
The records show that while Wellman was approved for the federal money, it hadn't been paid out yet.
All the while, court documents say Wellman was selling heroin out of a home on Willow Branch Drive, a crime that led to a federal arrest warrant for Wellman issued last week and likely resulted in Tuesday's shootout as the ATF tried to arrest him.
Wellman died in the shooting. Neither the ATF nor the FBI have updated the status of the ATF agent, who Metro Police said had been critically wounded.
