Culture

Cleveland Police Release The Photo Of A Suspect Accused Of Broadcasting A Murder On Facebook Live

The Cleveland Police Department is asking for help to locate a suspect, Steve Stephens, who allegedly murdered an elderly man and broadcast the shooting on Facebook Live. ABC News reports that Stephens claims to have committed several other homicides, although police haven’t verified the existence of other victims. Regardless, police are actively investigating these claims. They consider Stephens to be armed and dangerous, and authorities are warning the public not to approach him but to immediately call 911.

NBC News archived several Facebook posts (the account has since been deleted) that Stephens purportedly made on Sunday while bragging about carrying out a “Easter day slaughter” of 15 victims:

A series of posts Sunday on what authorities said was Stephens’ Facebook page complained that he had “lost everything” to gambling. The posts named specific people whom the user wanted to talk to, and at one point he wrote “I killed 12 people today” and wouldn’t stop until he could speak to his mother and a second woman.

Later, the user posted: “I killed 15 today because of [the second woman].” The user called it his “Easter day slaughter.”

Stephens, who is bald and sports a full beard, is 6’1″ and weighs in at 244 pounds. He was last seen in a light-colored SUV near the Lake Erie shore, where the killing was believed to have been committed. Here’s a screencap from the Facebook Live video in question.

https://twitter.com/PhillyD/status/853731271721103363

Stephens’ employer, the Beech Brook mental health organization, gave a statement to ABC News:

“We learned about [the shooting] this afternoon when someone saw it on FB and notified us,” said Nancy Kortemeyer, vice president of marketing and PR at Beech Brook. “We are doing everything we can to help and help locate him.” She added: “We are shocked and horrified.”

Facebook delivered a statement to CNN as seen in the below clip: “This is a horrific crime and we do not allow this kind of content.”

Here’s another social media picture taken from Stevens’ deleted account.

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/853714208298500096

(Via Cleveland PD, ABC News & NBC News)