The Cleveland man, 37-year-old Steve Stephens, who notoriously video-taped his 74-year-old victim, as he shot him to death in that city, is now dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head in Erie County in Northern Pennsylvania, authorities in that state report.

A window attendant at a McDonalds in Harbor Creek Township at 11:10 am, after seeing alerts on Stephens, recognized the suspect. That attendent stalled Stephens as authorities were called.

Troopers and police began a pursuit on Buffalo Road at fairly low speeds and a Pennsylvania trooper in a patrol car performed a “Pit Maneuver” on the white Ford Fusion, Stephens was driving.  After being spun out of control, the vehicle came to a stop at Buffalo Road and Downing Avenue. It was then that Stephens put a handgun to his head and took his own life.

This incident had its start on Sunday, when Stephens, who had reportedly lost all of his money at Erie and Cleveland casinos, and had been having difficulty in his   relationship with his girlfriend, picked a victim at random.

That victim was 74-year-old Robert Godwin Jr, father of 10 and grandfather of 16. Godwin, a retired foundry worker, was picking up cans as he made his way home from Easter Dinner with his children.

Stephens came up on the man and put a gun to his head. Just before pulling the trigger, Stephens asked Godwin to say the name of his girlfriend, then told Godwin, “She’s the reason why this is about to happen to you.”

Stephen video-taped his encounter with Godwin then later posted it to his Facebook profile.

Stephens, prior to the incident and the ensuing hunt, was a vocal specialist, working with youth and young adults at Beech Brook, a behavior health center in northeastern Ohio.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

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