Why Cleveland Killer Steven Stephens Affects ALL of Us
UPDATE: Stephens has committed suicide. His body was found at 10am EST April 18.
Mental illness is REAL and should not be ignored. The smallest cries for help could be the forewarning of terror and debauchery. While we cannot charge the loved ones of Steve Stephens, should we can hold them accountable? Do we hold our community accountable for these horrific crimes. Blended and Black often tackles issues of emotional instability and mental illness, because this is such a prevalent and ignored occurrence. Sadly, we do not talk about it until it happens to us.
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By now, we have all heard about Steve Stephens. In case, you may have missed this breaking story, here’s what we know so far.
A gunman fatally shot an elderly man at random, posting video of the shooting on Facebook, and has claimed to have killed several other people on Easter Sunday, Cleveland Police say.
Steve Stephens, who goes by Stevie Steve on Facebook, is wanted for homicide, Cleveland Police said in a press release. Only one shooting, which was seen in video on Facebook, has been confirmed, police said.
Police said late Sunday an aggravated murder warrant has been issued for Stephens. A massive multi-state manhunt is underway for him as police say he could be out of state.
“Residents of states of Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana and Michigan asked to be on alert,” the police press release said. He is possibly heading to New York to see family, police said.
Police Chief Calvin Williams said Stephens committed a “heinous crime in our city” and needs to be taken off the street. He said anyone who is helping Stephens escape could also face charges and should turn him in. Williams said police had contact with Stephens by phone early on in the investigation, but haven’t heard from him since.
The victim has been identified by police as 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr. You can read more about him here.
Stephens takes on his mother in one video, he claims she didn’t care when he said he was suicidal. Stephens says, “Didn’t care, it don’t matter, people would come to me with their problems, I would deal with my problems everyday. But when it comes to my problems, nobody gives a f*ck. It’s like I’m always the bad guy, no matter what the f*ck I do, people always making it out on me…. Innocent people about to die today. Hopefully I’m going to try and kill as many people as I can and be on death row or whatever the case may be. I just don’t give a f*ck no more. I’m beat, I’m tired, you know.”
“I snapped, dog, I just snapped,” he tells the man on the phone, saying he shamed his fraternity with his actions. “I just killed 13 motherf*ckers man. That’s what I did, I killed 13 people and I’m about to keep killing until they catch me. F*ck it.”
In another video, he says, “The people I’m going to kill today, it’s Easter Sunday, it’s not my first. I’ve got a few people that’s over here off this street … it’s an abandoned house, I kind of lost count. I didn’t keep score. But I’m going to keep score today. I’m bout to have me some fun, I guess.”
He also claims he is going to randomly shoot “Greeks” in the head until he gets caught. Stephens said on his Facebook page he was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
“The vengeance is about to happen,” he says in one video.
(Facebook)
Cleveland Police have confirmed that a video posted to Facebook showing an elderly man being shot is legitimate. The video was posted Sunday by a Facebook user going by the name “Stevie Steve,” who has been identified by police as Steve Stephens.
On Facebook, Stephens blamed the shootings on a woman, Joy Lane, who appears to have been his girlfriend. He wrote in the caption of a photo with her, “three years I spent with this bitch … I wish we never met.”
Joy Lane sent a statement to CBS News:
We had been in a relationship for several years. I am sorry that all of this has happened. My heart & prayers goes out to the family members of the victim(s). Steve really is a nice guy…he is generous with everyone he knows. He was kind and loving to me and my children. This is a very difficult time for me and my family Please respect our privacy at this time.
She also posted a message on her now-deleted Facebook page:
He says in the video Lane “drove him crazy.” They were supposed to be married, he said. He also says in the video “we are all human and we all have breaking points.”
Stephens also says in the video that he went to talk to his mother, but she didn’t care when he told her he was feeling suicidal and homicidal. He said he blames her for driving him to kill along with his ex-girlfriend.
“Didn’t care, it don’t matter, people would come to me with their problems, I would deal with my problems everyday,” Stephens says. “But when it comes to my problems, nobody gives a f*ck. It’s like I’m always the bad guy, no matter what the f*ck I do, people always making it out on me…. Innocent people about to die today. Hopefully I’m going to try and kill as many people as I can and be on death row or whatever the case may be. I just don’t give a f*ck no more. I’m beat, I’m tired, you know.”
His mother, Maggie Green, talked to CNN and said she has spoken to her son since the Facebook posts were made, and that he has never had serious issues in the past. She told CNN she is upset, in disbelief and wants him to stop.”
Green told CNN Stephens told her he is ” “mad with his girlfriend that’s why he is shooting people and he won’t stop until his mother or girlfriend tell him to stop.”
In another post he wrote about issues he’s had over the past year. He recently filed for bankruptcy.
In a video, he tells the camera, “I’m 37 and all my f*cking life I’ve just always been a f*cking monster, man. Always had to prove myself, always had to take the butts of people’s jokes.”
“I’m killing motherf*ckrs, all because of this bitch… She’s putting me at my pushing point,” he says. “I was living over there with her, I woke up Friday and I just couldn’t take it anymore, I just left. Here I am, massacring motherf*ckers. Today is the Easter Day Joy Lane massacre.”
In another post he wrote, “tell Jim I’m calling off tomorrow.”
Police Chief Calvin Williams said at a press conference they want Stephens to turn himself in.
“If Steve has an issue, he needs to talk to some folks to get things resolved,” Williams said. “I know Steve that you have a relationship with some of our clergy out here in northeast Ohio, I encourage you to give them a call and talk to them and then talk to us and turn yourself in.”
Stephens’ family posted a message on his Twitter account:
On behalf of the entire Stephens family, our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Robert Godwin Sr., his family and all of the victims families that have been affected by this tragedy. I have taken the liberty of deleting all of Steve’s tweets, as I do not want any pictures of our family to be associated with this murderer. We absolutely do not condone this type of behavior and this atrocity, therefore we do not consider Steve a part of this family. I would like everyone to refrain from posting pictures of our family in association with Steve, for we do not want our young ones to be burdened by this man. Please respect our privacy.
We do not have information concerning the whereabouts of Steven. If you have any serious inquiries, please DM this account.
Remember to pray for the victims and their families.
Happy Easter,
The Stephens Family
The previous tweets have been deleted and it is not clear if Stephens posted about the shooting on his Twitter account.
At this moment, Steve is still at large.
