» Facebook killing:
Suspect in random shooting blames former girlfriend
As the manhunt drags on for Steve Stephens, the man accused of posting Facebook footage of himself killing a Cleveland retiree, police are unable to explain what set him off.
CLEVELAND - In a rambling video, Steve Stephens said, “I snapped, I just snapped.” But as the manhunt dragged on Monday for the man accused of posting Facebook footage of himself killing a Cleveland retiree, police were unable to explain what set him off.
“Only Steve knows that,” Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said as authorities posted a $50,000 reward for Stephens’ capture in the shooting of Robert Godwin Sr., a 74-yearold former foundry worker.
In the video, Stephens blamed a former girlfriend he had lived with, saying he woke up last week and “couldn’t take it anymore.”
But in a statement Monday, the woman shed little light on what might have gone wrong and said Stephens was good to her and her children.
As for the shooting victim, Godwin appeared to have been selected at random, gunned down while picking up aluminum cans Sunday afternoon after spending Easter with some of his children.
A manhunt that started in Cleveland’s grit ty east side expanded rapidly into a nationwide search for Stephens, a 37year-old job counselor who worked with teens and young adults, police said.
“He could be nearby. He could be far away or anywhere in between,” FBI agent Stephen Anthony said.
Law enforcement officials said his cellphone signal was last detected on Sunday afternoon in Erie, Pennsylvania, about 100 miles east of Cleveland. Police reported getting dozens and dozens of tips, and nine schools in Philadelphia were locked down Monday. Authorities are telling people in Cleveland, as well as Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana and Michigan, to be on the lookout for the suspect.