On a summer morning in Schuylkill County, the quiet of New Ringgold was shattered by a violent act that claimed the life of Robert Eli Greene, a 63-year-old male. On July 22, 2016, as Greene arrived for his shift at Joe's Used Auto Parts on Summer Valley Road, he was met by a former colleague, 46-year-old Scott Allen Baver of Orwigsburg. In what police described as an 'ambush-style attack,' Baver was lying in wait in the parking lot.
The events unfolded around 7:30 a.m. as Greene, a resident of Lehighton, was walking towards the main building of the auto parts business where he was a current employee. Baver exited his vehicle and shot Greene multiple times with a handgun. The attack was sudden and brutal, leaving Greene fatally wounded at his place of work.
Immediately following the shooting, Baver fled the scene in his vehicle, heading west on Route 443. His flight was short-lived. A few miles away from the scene of the initial violence, Baver drove his car onto a dirt lane. There, he took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. State troopers later discovered his vehicle and his body.
The motive for the murder-suicide was believed by investigators to stem from a past dispute between the two men. Both Greene and Baver were pronounced dead at their respective locations by the Deputy Schuylkill County Coroner. The incident left the local community in shock, with customers of the auto parts store expressing their disbelief at the violent turn of events. There were no further arrests as the sole suspect in Greene's murder was deceased.
