Cleveland Facebook Killer

newyorkguy

Penultimate Amazing
newyorkguy
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The calls that came in to police Sunday afternoon seemed unbelievable. Numerous people were watching a man ranting about his miserable life live on Facebook and threatening to kill someone at random. And then he did just that. In the videos Steve Stephens, 37, of Cleveland, took during and after the Easter Sunday Facebook killing, he seemed calm and even laughs about the pain and fear he knew he would cause the city.

His victim - Robert Godwin Jr., a 74-year-old father of nine and grandfather of 14 - just happened to walk into the path of thd deranged gunman about 2 p.m. on East 93rd Street, just south of Interstate 90 in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood. Stephens filmed the shooting and posted it to his Facebook page. Link to cleveland.com
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For the boomers here, remember when life seemed normal? At least, semi-normal? At any rate, the man is still at large and police are warning residents in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York to be alert.

The last ping on Stephens' cell phone was in Erie PA.
 
newyorkguy said:
For the boomers here, remember when life seemed normal? At least, semi-normal? At any rate, the man is still at large and police are warning residents in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York to be alert.

The last ping on Stephens' cell phone was in Erie PA.
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This whole narcissistic Youtube/Facebook culture is really slamming home the fact that we are just animals in clothes, and actually pretty bad animals at that, say compared to dogs. Or any other animal.

If I wasn't human I would call for our eradication. Maybe all primates.

Not a boomer but ya I remember a different world 35 years ago or so. I blame parents. Parenting is a dying art.
 
mgidm86 said:
This whole narcissistic Youtube/Facebook culture is really slamming home the fact that we are just animals in clothes, and actually pretty bad animals at that, say compared to dogs. Or any other animal.

If I wasn't human I would call for our eradication. Maybe all primates.

Not a boomer but ya I remember a different world 35 years ago or so. I blame parents. Parenting is a dying art.
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Imo, the only difference was that we couldn't upload our jackassery to the world.
 
newyorkguy said:
For the boomers here, remember when life seemed normal? At least, semi-normal? At any rate, the man is still at large and police are warning residents in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York to be alert.

The last ping on Stephens' cell phone was in Erie PA.
Click to expand...

I've been taken to task over my opinion that the media should not allow bad actors infamy by criminal acts.

One of my friends came up with the idea that starting with the UOT/Austin shooter forward the media should not even release the true name of the actor and only refer to the actor as (insert favorite pejorative term) # whatever.

I'm partial to the phrase "Impotent Loser," but somebody might have a better idea.

Considering the evidence that the actors in several cluster homicides have made reference to the actions of the nuts that came before them, this might not be a bad idea, and there are some folks that are pushing the idea that the actors in notorious crimes should not be glorified through media news reports.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/02/media/media-decisions-naming-showing-killers/
 
Hey if you don't want publicity, maybe Cleveland PD shouldn't have held a press conference? I haven't had the heart to look, but I presume Facebook has taken down the video Stephens uploaded of the shooting.

At any rate, the shooter, Stephens, has claimed he has killed 13 other people but there is no evidence to support that. From a CNN report I watched earlier:

  • Cleveland police detectives were able to contact the killer via his cell phone and detectives tried to talk him into surrendering. Stephens didn't agree, he ended the call and subsequent efforts to contact him have been fruitless.

  • This entire incident stems from a dispute Stephens had with his girl friend. He made his 74-year-old victim, Robert Godwin Jr., say his (Stephen's) girlfriend's name before shooting him.

  • Earlier today, Philadelphia police received a report of a sighting of Stephens, considered it credible and ordered about thirty local schools on lock down while the report was investigated (and ultimately dismissed).
 
newyorkguy said:
Hey if you don't want publicity, maybe Cleveland PD shouldn't have held a press conference? I haven't had the heart to look, but I presume Facebook has taken down the video Stephens uploaded of the shooting.

At any rate, the shooter, Stephens, has claimed he has killed 13 other people but there is no evidence to support that. From a CNN report I watched earlier:

  • Cleveland police detectives were able to contact the killer via his cell phone and detectives tried to talk him into surrendering. Stephens didn't agree, he ended the call and subsequent efforts to contact him have been fruitless.

  • This entire incident stems from a dispute Stephens had with his girl friend. He made his 74-year-old victim, Robert Godwin Jr., say his (Stephen's) girlfriend's name before shooting him.

  • Earlier today, Philadelphia police received a report of a sighting of Stephens, considered it credible and ordered about thirty local schools on lock down while the report was investigated (and ultimately dismissed).
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There's certainly an argument to be made that if the actor is on the loose you need to get their photo in front of the public, but I still believe that there is merit in denying these guys their opportunity to appear on "murder made me famous."

http://www.reelz.com/murder/
 
The Erie, PA ping may not have happened.

CNN said:
Though Pennsylvania authorities said early Monday that Stephens' cellphone had issued a "ping," or a signal, in Erie, Pennsylvania, the Erie Police Department said Monday afternoon it had no knowledge of a ping emitted from its city. Erie is about 100 miles east of Cleveland.

Williams told reporters earlier on Monday he couldn't speak to the report of a ping. Stephens' last known location was the murder scene, he said...
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http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/17/us/cleveland-facebook-homicide-video/index.html
 
BStrong said:
I've been taken to task over my opinion that the media should not allow bad actors infamy by criminal acts.

One of my friends came up with the idea that starting with the UOT/Austin shooter forward the media should not even release the true name of the actor and only refer to the actor as (insert favorite pejorative term) # whatever.

I'm partial to the phrase "Impotent Loser," but somebody might have a better idea.

Considering the evidence that the actors in several cluster homicides have made reference to the actions of the nuts that came before them, this might not be a bad idea, and there are some folks that are pushing the idea that the actors in notorious crimes should not be glorified through media news reports.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/02/media/media-decisions-naming-showing-killers/
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I agree completely with this.

By the weekend, the name "Stephens" will be on everyone's lips, whether he's caught or not.

But everyone who reads these kinds of reports can help change that by referring to him in much less desirable terms.

Instead of 'deranged killer Stephens" we can call him "Little Stevie" or just "Facebook's own S. Wimpybutt".

Take the badass out of being bad.
 
Upon learning that the press was calling him silly names, the killer became infuriated and randomly killed another...
 
William Parcher said:
Upon learning that the press was calling him silly names, the killer became infuriated and randomly killed another...
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Maybe. But that wouldn't be the fault of the press, any more than the 1st is the fault of facebook.

A few years back there was a mass murderer I've never called by his proper name since. I've my own name for him, and when I use it everyone knows to whom I refer, so it hasn't hampered my ability to communicate. However, who knows? Somewhere, it just may make someone with similar ideas change their minds for fear his name will be bastardized in ways that will leave everyone chortling behind their hands.

They want to cause pain, fear and misery. Let them bring upon themselves naught but scorn, mockery and jokes in poor taste as their most memorable reward.
 
newyorkguy said:
For the boomers here, remember when life seemed normal? At least, semi-normal?
Click to expand...

mgidm86 said:
Not a boomer but ya I remember a different world 35 years ago or so. I blame parents. Parenting is a dying art.
Click to expand...

Remember when lynchings were a community event? Bring the kids, take some pictures with the hanging bodies. Oh, the good old days when people were just.. better, ya know?

Granted a bit before boomer age, but seriously, when is this wonderful time when people didn't do awful **** to each other? The small town atrocities of the past become national news now, but beyond that there really isn't any difference. Just a wider audience and a better vehicle to deliver it.
 
rdwight said:
Remember when lynchings were a community event? Bring the kids, take some pictures with the hanging bodies. Oh, the good old days when people were just.. better, ya know?

Granted a bit before boomer age, but seriously, when is this wonderful time when people didn't do awful **** to each other? The small town atrocities of the past become national news now, but beyond that there really isn't any difference. Just a wider audience and a better vehicle to deliver it.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:
 
rdwight said:
Remember when lynchings were a community event? Bring the kids, take some pictures with the hanging bodies. Oh, the good old days when people were just.. better, ya know?

Granted a bit before boomer age, but seriously, when is this wonderful time when people didn't do awful **** to each other? The small town atrocities of the past become national news now, but beyond that there really isn't any difference. Just a wider audience and a better vehicle to deliver it.
Click to expand...

The worst mass-murder to date perpetrated at an American school happened in 1927 when this freak bombed an elementary school, and used a suicide truck bomb to kill a few more of the survivors shortly afterwards. 43 dead, 58 wounded.
 
mgidm86 said:
Not a boomer but ya I remember a different world 35 years ago or so. I blame parents. Parenting is a dying art.
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Crime and thuggery was rampant 35 years ago; nowadays it's at the lowest it's been over the last 50-ish years.

"Parenting is a dying art." :rolleyes: Sorry you wasted a perfectly misanthropist rant. Better luck next time.
 
Practical question: If you observe something horrible happening in real-time on Facebook or other platforms, what do you do about it? If you call 911, you reach your local cops, but the event could be happening anywhere in the world. Report a "violation of user agreement" to Facebook? What are you supposed to do?
 
Bob001 said:
Practical question: If you observe something horrible happening in real-time on Facebook or other platforms, what do you do about it? If you call 911, you reach your local cops, but the event could be happening anywhere in the world. Report a "violation of user agreement" to Facebook? What are you supposed to do?
Click to expand...

I'd still call the local cops in the hope they would know who to call.
 
newyorkguy said:
Hey if you don't want publicity, maybe Cleveland PD shouldn't have held a press conference? I haven't had the heart to look, but I presume Facebook has taken down the video Stephens uploaded of the shooting.
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It was up for 3 hours but maybe the guy didn't have a lot of traffic to his page. The news media has shown a blurred version of it.

I don't know though, this case feels different. The guy claimed he had rage, but showing that old man being killed can't possibly make that shooter feel satisfaction.

newyorkguy said:
This entire incident stems from a dispute Stephens had with his girl friend. He made his 74-year-old victim, Robert Godwin Jr., say his (Stephen's) girlfriend's name before shooting him.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? I saw the news media version of the video and the shooter confronted the old man and shot seconds later. I didn't hear him ask the old man for anything.
 
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