The world can breathe a little easier as the nationwide manhunt for Steve Stephens, the man from Cleveland accused of killing an elderly man on Facebook live, ended late Tuesday morning.
Stephens body was found in a vehicle in Erie, PA, according to police.
NBC News confirmed with Pennsylvania State Police Stephens was spotted in a white vehicle by the police around 11:30am Tuesday morning. This was close to 48 hours after Stephens allegedly Facebook Lived the shooting and killing of 74-year old Robert Godwin on Easter Sunday afternoon.
Following the car chase, police said Stephens shot and killed himself. This is the fate many suspected of the obviously mentally disturbed man.
From NBC News:
Pa. State police Cpl. Adam Reed told NBC News that a citizen tip placed Stephens near an area McDonald’s early Tuesday.
“He was spotted because of the car and the license plate matched up with one distributed in media reports,” said Reed.
After a brief, 2-mile traffic pursuit, Stephens pulled out a handgun and killed himself, Reed said.
At a press conference Tuesday, Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said he was grateful that the manhunt had ended, but would have preferred that the suspect had been found alive.
“This started with one tragedy, and ended with another person taking their own life” Williams said. “Loss of life is a loss of life.”
Many around the country are breathing a sigh of relief now that this man is off the streets. While his actions will do nothing but cause pain for the families impacted, it has started a larger discussion about mental illness in the Black community, a topic that has been somewhat taboo in the community.
Maybe some good can come out of this tragedy as we deal with some of the deep seeded issues of those who display signs of mental instability.
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