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Massive manhunt is underway for shooter who broadcast a murder live on Facebook

Published Apr 17th, 2017 11:48AM EDT
facebook shooter
Image: CNN

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Steve Stephens, a 37-year-old Cleveland resident who broadcast himself shooting and killing an elderly man on Easter Sunday is still on the run, with authorities now fearing that he may have fled the immediate area and traveled to one of five surrounding states. As CNN reports, police are warning residents of Ohio as well as Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, and Michigan to be on the lookout for the 6-foot-1, 244 pound man. 

Stephens live streamed several different videos on Sunday after his first broadcast showed him finding an elderly man on the sidewalk and then shooting him in the head after a brief verbal exchange. Stephens did not know the victim, 74-year-old Robert Godwin, though the shooter claimed that he was hunting for random people due to troubles with a girlfriend as well as his mother. After approaching him on the street, Stephens asked Godwin to say the woman’s name before pulling out a gun and firing.

Reports of location data from Stephens’ phone suggest he may have traveled northeast from the location of the shooting in Cleveland, with the last “ping” from the phone showing up about 100 miles up the coast of Lake Erie.

Stephens made several claims during the Facebook broadcast, including that he had killed over a dozen other individuals, though police say they only have knowledge of one victim, Godwin. Stephens was last seen wearing a grey and blue striped polo shirt and was driving a white Ford Fusion. Authorities are considering Stephens to be armed and dangerous and suggest that anyone who believes they know of his whereabouts do not approach him and contact law enforcement immediately.