In the predawn hours of August 6, 2006, 40-year-old Reading Police Officer Scott Alan Wertz was killed while working an auto-theft detail. Wertz, a nine-year department veteran and married father of two, and his partner responded to reports of a fight and gunshots near City Hall. At a convenience store at 8th and Walnut Streets they heard more gunfire and saw a man leaving. When the officers approached, the man fled on foot and Officer Wertz chased him. The fleeing man fired two shots, striking Wertz in the chest; Wertz was not wearing a bulletproof vest. He was taken to Reading Hospital and pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

The man arrested at the scene was identified as Cletus C. Rivera. At a 2008 trial, Rivera testified he intended to kill the man chasing him because he feared for his life and his defense argued he did not know Wertz was a police officer. The prosecution noted Wertz’s badge was later found in his vehicle and his firearm remained in its holster. A jury convicted Rivera of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death by lethal injection; that judgment was later affirmed on appeal. Did anyone in the area that morning see the pursuit or have information about the moments before the shooting?