You can find our Follow up Article about Robert Godwin, SR HERE, please read it as well

 

Steve ‘Stevie Steve’ Stephens: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

The Heavy Writes-

A gunman fatally shot an elderly man at random, broadcasting video of the shooting on Facebook Live, and has claimed to have killed several other people on Easter Sunday, Cleveland Police say.

Steve Stephens, who goes by Stevie Steve on Facebook, is wanted for homicide, Cleveland Police said in a press release. Only one shooting, which was broadcast on Facebook, has been confirmed, police said.

The victim has been identified by police as 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. You can read more about him here.

The shooting happened at 635 East 93rd Street about 2 p.m. Sunday, police said.

The city has been on high alert for the past two hours, with police swarming several areas.

“Cleveland stay inside and be safe,” one person wrote on Twitter.

“We need Steve to turn himself in,” Police Chief Calvin Williams said at a press conference. “Right now there are two families out there hurting. Mr. Godwin’s family and of course there are people out there who care about Steve and want to see this not go any further.

“We’ve brought everything to bear on this, from our federal partners, our state and local partners. And everybody is out there looking for Steve. We want this to end with as much peace as we can bring to this right now. … What happened today is senseless,” Williams said.

The chief said police have been in contact with Williams’ family to try to get him to turn himself in.

Mayor Frank Jackson also spoke directly to Stephens.

“We want to communicate to him that we know who he is and that he will eventually be caught,” Jackson said. “He need not do anymore harm to anybody, any innocent people. Whatever concerns or problems that he’s having we’re here to have a conversation with him.”

Ohio Governor John Kasich said on Twitter, “This is a hideous criminal & the Ohio Highway Patrol has made all resources available to Cleveland in its response.”

This story is still developing Here’s what we know so far:

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1. ‘Found Me Somebody I’m Going to Kill, This Guy Right Here, This Old Dude’

Cleveland Police have confirmed that a video posted to Facebook Live showing an elderly man being shot is legitimate. The video was posted Sunday by a Facebook user going by the name “Stevie Steve,” who has been identified by police as Steve Stephens.

You can watch the video below (warning: very graphic)

 

Stephens’ Facebook page has since been taken down.

In the shocking video, Stephens can be seen driving down the road and he says, “Found me somebody I’m going to kill, this guy right here, this old dude,” before exiting his vehicle. He walks up to the man and begins talking to him, asking how old he is before pulling out a gun.

The man tries to shield himself before Stephens fires once, hitting the man in the head.

The video shows the man on the ground, bleeding as Stephens walks back to his white car, described by police as a Ford Fusion, and drives off.

Family members of the victim, Robert Godwin Sr., 74, spoke to local reporters:

“He’s good guy. He’d give you the shirt off his back,” a family member told reporters. “This man right here was a good man. I hate he’s gone. It’s not real.”

Police Chief Calvin Williams said Godwin was picked out at random in a “senseless” killing.

“We don’t know why. It’s senseless,” Williams said. “There was no need for this gentleman to lose his life. If this person needs some help, which obviously he does. He needs to call someone, he needs to turn himself in so he can get the help he needs. He can’t keep victimizing this community based on his issues.”

Mayor Frank Jackson said he wants to personally and on behalf of the city “give condolences to the family of the victim.”

Facebook said in a statement that the video was taken down because it violates the site’s standards.

“This is a horrific crime and we do not allow this kind of content on Facebook,” the company said in a statement. “We work hard to keep a safe environment on Facebook, and are in touch with law enforcement in emergencies when there are direct threats to physical safety.”

 

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2. He Claimed on Facebook to Have Killed 15 People in an ‘Easter Day Slaughter,’ but Police Haven’t Found Any Other Victims

In another Facebook post, Stephens said he has killed 15 people. He had been posting on Facebook for at least four hours before his page was taken down.

His first post called the shootings an “Easter day slaughter.” In that post, he claimed to have killed 12 people, and said he “won’t stop” until his mother and another woman call him.

“I’m the #goodguy,” he wrote.

In later posts, he claimed to have killed three more people. He wrote that many of the bodies were in an abandoned house.

“This shit is real,” he wrote on Facebook.

Cleveland Police said in a press release that only one homicide has been confirmed. Police Chief Calvin Williams said they haven’t found any other victims. Williams said investigators checked the abandoned homes and other locations mentioned in the videos and did not locate anyone.

“Currently there are no other victims that we know of,” Williams said. “So far there are no more victims that we know that are tied to Steve and this incident. But we are still encouraging people that if you have information on Steve’s whereabouts or any other victims that may be out there, to definitely give us a call. Just call 911.”

In another video Stephens says he has “snapped” and has a “lot of built in anger and frustration,” telling the man on the other line he has killed a couple people. You can watch the video below:

“I snapped, dog, I just snapped,” he tells the man on the phone, saying he shamed his fraternity with his actions. “I just killed 13 motherf*ckers man. That’s what I did, I killed 13 people and I’m about to keep killing until they catch me. F*ck it.”

In another video, he says, “The people I’m going to kill today, it’s Easter Sunday, it’s not my first. I’ve got a few people that’s over here off this street … it’s an abandoned house, I kind of lost count. I didn’t keep score. But I’m going to keep score today. I’m bout to have me some fun, I guess.”

He also claims he is going to randomly shoot “Greeks” in the head until he gets caught. Stephens said on his Facebook page he was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

“The vengeance is about to happen,” he says in one video.

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3. He Has Blamed the Shootings on a Woman & Wrote on Facebook That He Lost All His Money Gambling at Casinos Over the Past Year

On Facebook, Stephens blamed the shootings on a woman, Joy Lane, who appears to have been his girlfriend. He wrote in the caption of a photo with her, “three years I spent with this bitch … I wish we never met.”

The woman has been taken into protective custody by police, authorities said.

In the video showing him shooting an elderly man, he asks him to say his ex-girlfriend’s name, Joy Lane, before shooting him.

“She’s the reason this is about to happen to you,” he says. He recorded a Facebook Live video outside her workplace:

He says in the video Lane “drove him crazy.” They were supposed to be married, he said. He also says in the video “we are all human and we all have breaking points.”

Stephens also says in the video that he went to talk to his mother, but she didn’t care when he told her he was feeling suicidal and homicidal. He said he blames her for driving him to kill along with his ex-girlfriend.

“Didn’t care, it don’t matter, people would come to me with their problems, I would deal with my problems everyday,” Stephens says. “But when it comes to my problems, nobody gives a f*ck. It’s like I’m always the bad guy, no matter what the f*ck I do, people always making it out on me…. Innocent people about to die today. Hopefully I’m going to try and kill as many people as I can and be on death row or whatever the case may be. I just don’t give a f*ck no more. I’m beat, I’m tired, you know.”

His mother, Maggie Green, talked to CNN and said she has spoken to her son since the Facebook posts were made, and that he has never had serious issues in the past. She told CNN she is upset, in disbelief and wants him to stop.”

Green told CNN Stephens told her he is ” “mad with his girlfriend that’s why he is shooting people and he won’t stop until his mother or girlfriend tell him to stop.”

In another post he wrote about issues he’s had over the past year. He recently filed for bankruptcy:

“I lost everything I ever had due to gambling,” he wrote. “I do not go into details but I’m a (sic) my breaking point I’m really on some murder shit. … FB you have 4 minutes to tell me why I shouldn’t be on death row!!! I’m dead serious. #teamdeathrow.”

In a video, he tells the camera, “I’m 37 and all my f*cking life I’ve just always been a f*cking monster, man. Always had to prove myself, always had to take the butts of people’s jokes.”

“I’m killing motherf*ckrs, all because of this bitch… She’s putting me at my pushing point,” he says. “I was living over there with her, I woke up Friday and I just couldn’t take it anymore, I just left. Here I am, massacring motherf*ckers. Today is the Easter Day (girlfriend’s name) massacre.”

In another post he wrote, “tell Jim I’m calling off tomorrow.”

Police Chief Calvin Williams said at a press conference they want Stephens to turn himself in.

“If Steve has an issue, he needs to talk to some folks to get things resolved,” Williams said. “I know Steve that you have a relationship with some of our clergy out here in northeast Ohio, I encourage you to give them a call and talk to them and then talk to us and turn yourself in.”

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4. Stephens, a Case Manager at a Children’s Mental Health Facility, Has Several Videos on His Facebook Page Showing Him at Gun Ranges

In previous Facebook posts, Stephens has talked about going to the gun range and being a good shooter. He has posted several videos showing him at the gun range for target practice.

You can watch the videos above and below:

It is not clear if he is armed with any weapons besides the handgun seen in the Facebook Live shooting video.

 

It is not known if Stephens has a criminal record or history of violence or mental health issues.

Online records show he has received several traffic violations in Ohio, dating back to 2001, but no criminal charges have been found.

In a video, Stephens says that he is a case manager at Beech Brook , a children’s behavioral health agency that is based in northeast Ohio.

“For 165 years, Beech Brook has been serving Northeast Ohio’s most vulnerable children. Today, as a leading behavioral health agency, Beech Brook will serve more than 18,000 children and families this year,” the facility’s website says. “Beech Brook touches the lives of children, teens and families through an array of services ranging from prevention, education and early intervention to community-based programming to strengthen and support youth and families.”

In one of his videos, Stephens blamed his workplace for driving him to kill people.

“We are shocked and horrified like everyone else,” said Nancy Kortemeyer, a spokeswoman for Beech Brook said in a statement. “To think that one of our employees could do this is awful. … We don’t know anything more about it. We Hope and pray that he is arrested as soon as possible and we hope and pray for a resolution quickly.”

Stephens attended the now-closed Myers College near Cleveland, graduating in 2002, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

“I’m texting and Facebook messaging people that I went to school with — the reaction is a collective ‘I can’t believe that’,” Dawn Arrington, a former classmate, told the newspaper. “I’m completely shocked. I’m heartbroken.”

Arrington told the Plain Dealer that Stephens attended a high school on Cleveland’s East Side, the neighborhood where Sunday’s shooting occurred. She said he was a “”funny guy, always laughing and joking,” who kept in touch with his college friends.

“It was all jokes and fun,” she told the newspaper. “He was slightly awkward. He was a different kind of guy.”

5. Stephens Is Considered Armed & Dangerous & Police Have Warned the Public to Not Approach Him

Cleveland Police said in a press release that Steve Stephens is 6’1 and weighs 244 pounds, with a bald head and a full beard, wearing dark blue and grey or a black striped polo shirt. He is driving a white or cream colored Ford Fusion car with temporary license plates. He is 37.

“Armed and dangerous. If seen call 9-1-1. Do not approach,” police said.

The car is a newer model and was recently purchased in Stephens’ name, police said.

Authorities said they haven’t had an official sighting of Stephens since the incident happened, and are not sure if he is still in the area.

Police are doubled up and are often riding in tandem with state and county partners while patrolling and searching for Stephens. Investigators have followed up on hundreds of leads, police said.

“We are encouraging people to be careful, to be vigilant, to watch out for one another,” police said.

The Cleveland Clinic was put on lockdown because of Stephens, Cleveland 19 News reports.

Cleveland State University also issued an alert saying those on campus should shelter in place:

“Cleveland Police are searching for a murder suspect last seen south of Interstate 90 in the area of E93rd,” the university said in a text message. “Shelter in place on campus or stay away from campus.”

The shelter in place warning was later lifted.

Case Western Reserve University also alerted students about the incident.

“The suspect’s location at this time is not known, but we have no indication he is on the Case Western Reserve campus,” the alert said. “Nevertheless, we encourage those of you on campus to stay indoors.”

The FBI is assisting in the search, along with the Ohio Bureau of Investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

“We need to bring this to a conclusion today,” Police Chief Calvin Williams said. “We to get Steve off the streets, give (the victim’s family) some closure. People later on can dive into why this happened. There is no need for any further bloodshed in this incident. … Be careful in your comings and goings, but we’re not putting the city on lockdown or anything like that. People just need to be careful and watch out for one another and if you see something call 911.”