'Heroic Action' Taken By McDonald's Employees Helped End Manhunt for Facebook Live Killer Steve Stephens
The employees of a McDonald's restaurant in Erie, Pennsylvania have been praised for their "heroic action" that helped end the manhunt for Facebook Live killer Steve Stephens on Tuesday.
After randomly killing 74-year-old grandfather Robert Godwin Sr. in Cleveland, Ohio on Easter Sunday and then uploading a video of what he did on Facebook that same day, Stephens boasted that he would kill 14 others, The Sun reported.
Stephens even taunted the police, saying he would "keep killing until they catch me" after uploading the video.
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The 37-year-old children's mental health worker was believed to have "snapped" after his girlfriend ended their three-year relationship.
On the run, Stephens got hungry and ended up at a McDonald's in Erie, Pennsylvania, more than 100 miles from the shooting in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday.
According to employees at the restaurant, Stephens ordered McNuggets and a large order of fries in the drive-thru. "He was given his order of McNuggets, but employees tried to make him wait for his fries after one of the workers recognized him," according to Fox8 reporter Jessica Dill, as quoted by Faithwire.
Stephens refused to wait and drove out of the car park, nearly hitting a local woman on her way home from the shops, The Telegraph reported.
By that time, the McDonald's employees had already tipped off the police. The officers swiftly responded and cornered Stephens, who fatally shot himself inside his car.
Law enforcement officials later told TMZ that the tip off from McDonald's staff led them to Stephens before he could disappear.
Now, people on social media say the heroic McDonald's workers deserve the $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Stephens, according to Crimeonline.com.
While the question of the reward money remains unanswered, McDonald's released a short statement praising the quick thinking employees.
"We applaud the crew members at this McDonald's restaurant who recognized the suspect and did the right thing by quickly alerting the authorities of his location," a McDonald's spokesperson told ABC News. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim's loved ones and all of those impacted by this horrific crime."
