Vic on way home from Easter fete

THE CLEVELAND man whose grisly murder was posted on social media was a friendly grandfather who took up fishing in his retirement and collected aluminum cans for extra cash, his grieving family said Monday.

Robert Godwin Sr. was a retired foundry worker who left behind nine children, 14 grandchildren and a host of great-grandchildren, said his son Robert Godwin Jr., who was still reeling from the point-blank shooting death of his 74-year-old father.

Cops said Godwin Sr. (photo inset) was shot to death Sunday afternoon on a Cleveland street by a stranger, Steve Stephens, who took video of the murder and posted the footage on Facebook. Amid a multistate manhunt, Stephens was still on the run Monday night.

The innocent man was walking home after an Easter meal with his family. He was cut down by a bullet to the head.

Godwin Jr. said he wants the fiend apprehended.

“I just want him caught . . . because he can do it to somebody else,” he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

In the meantime, the heartbroken son said he and his family are trying to process the unthinkable.

“I haven’t watched the video. I haven’t even looked at my cell phone or the news,” Godwin, 48, said. “I don’t really want to see it.”

The son described his father as a “good guy” who was quiet and always respectful.

He said his father went fishing Saturday, and a day later he was collecting aluminum cans in a shopping bag, another hobby, when he was confronted by his killer.

He said he last saw his father Sunday morning when Godwin Sr. came by his house to pick up a piece of basketball equipment for one of his other sons.

“He hugged my wife and me and said, ‘I’ll see you guys next time,’ ” Godwin recalled. “I said ‘OK, enjoy your Easter.’ ”

He later got the call about the shooting and went to the scene. By the time he arrived, his father’s body had been taken away by an ambulance crew.

“When the detective walked up, she didn’t have to open her mouth because her vest said ‘homicide,’ ” Godwin said.

“It’s not real. My father was a good guy. He would give you the shirt off his back. I hate he’s gone. You know what I mean? I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s not real.”

Relatives, some of whom have Facebook pages of their own, urged the public to stop viewing and sharing the murder video.

“Please please please stop retweeting that video and report anyone who has posted it!” tweeted grandson Ryan Godwin. “That is my grandfather show some respect #Cleveland.”

The family also denounced what it said were various GoFundMe scams launched by unauthorized fundraisers.

Godwin Sr. was saluted online by several celebrities, including Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle and LL Cool J, who urged his social media following to retweet the suspect’s description rather than the video of his murder.

The family plans to soon issue a statement about donations.

Relatives and community members gathered Monday at the site of the murder for an emotional vigil.

One woman could be heard crying, “He killed my daddy.”

The victim’s daughter Debbie Godwin told The Plain Dealer her father was a gentle man with nothing mean about him.

“We called him the junkman,” she said. “He’d pick up things off the street and fix them. He picked up bikes and he fixed them.”

She said he was not easily embarrassed.

“He would go and buy our private things with pride,” Debbie said. “He had five daughters. He had no shame in his game.”