(Photo: Greg Wohlford/Erie Times-News)
Earlier this week, Steve W. Stephens claimed to be so angry at his girlfriend that he killed a stranger in public and posted a video of the murder on Facebook. For two days police were searching for him until a McDonald’s employee reported a sighting in Pennsylvania and Stephens ended his own life.
After the videos were posted in Cleveland, a number of sightings were reported around the country in areas including Eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, Indiana, Michigan, and Texas. Thirty-seven-year-old Stephens pulled into a McDonald’s drive-thru 100 miles outside of Cleveland and ordered food when he was recognized by an employee who tried to stall by taking an extra long time to give Stephens his fries. Instead of waiting, Stephens drove off without paying. The Pennsylvania police force chased him for about a mile before employing a PIT maneuver, a strategic technique to hit the suspect’s car causing him to lose control. It was then that “Stephens pulled a pistol and shot himself in the head,” as police report it.
Stephens had no criminal record prior to the incident and Cleveland police chief Calvin Williams explains, “We would like to have brought Steve in peacefully, and really talk to him and find out exactly why this happened because there might be other people out there in similar situations that we can help.”
Daughter of Stephens’ victim expressed, “We are not happy about the outcome because we would’ve preferred that he turned himself in and paid the penalty for taking my father’s life. We forgave him, but even the Bible says the law is the law. Him dying serves us no purpose.”
Alanna Shingler Staff Reporter