Cleveland Police Hunt Man They Say Livestreamed Killing On Facebook ( WARNING: Disturbing Content)

AN Ohio man who allegedly murdered a 78-year-old in a video posted to Facebook in a post called “Easter day slaughter” is on the run from the police.

The 37-year-old man, whose real name is Steve Stephens but uses the name “Stevie Steve” on social media, allegedly shot dead the elderly man after choosing him at random.

 The city of Cleveland, Ohio is in      lockdown as police search for Stephens, who also claimed in another Facebook post to have killed 15 people on a murder rampage.

Stephens wrote on Facebook he wouldn’t stop killing until his mother and a woman he names in the video call him.

A children’s mental health case worker at a facility called Beech Brook in northeastern Cleveland, Stephens appeared to have started cracking up several days ago when he posted on Facebook tagging his co-workers.

Asking them to let his boss know he wouldn’t be at work the next day he posted, “I’m sorry team but I’m to far gone [sic] ... I’m the #goodguy”.

  

Stephens had also written on Facebook last year that his life had been “f*****” up and that he had lost everything through gambling.

In the “Easter Day slaughter” video, man can be heard talking while driving and filming.

He says, “Found me somebody I’m about to kill ... this old dude.”

He then stops the car and approaches the elderly man in the street saying, “Can you do me a favour?”

He then asks the elderly man to repeat a woman’s name saying, “She’s the reason this is about to happen to you.”

He then asks the man how old he is, before pointing his gun at the man who holds his hands up in fear.

He then pulls the trigger and the elderly man falls to the ground, with blood pouring from his face down the pavement.

In another video, Stephens tells a friend on the phone he “just snapped” and had a lot of “built-up anger and frustration”.

He then tells the friend he has killed 13 people, “and I’m about to keep killing until they catch me ... I shamed myself.”

As Cleveland police hunted for Stephens, they said they could not confirm any other shootings by the “armed and dangerous” man, nor had there been any further sightings.

Describing the elderly man’s shooting as “senseless”, Cleveland Police chief Calvin Williams urged Stephens to turn himself in and said Stephens’ own family were doing the same.

“He can’t keep victimising his community based on his issues,” Chief Williams said.

Chief Williams said Stephens’ family were also urging him to hand himself in.

Local reporters spoke with a man and woman, believed to be the 78-year-old victim’s children, who said their father would “give you the shirt off his back”.

“I feel like my heart is going to stop,” the woman said.

The Beech Brook mental health facility released a statement saying, “We are shocked and horrified and we don’t know anything more about it.

“We hope and pray that he is arrested as soon as possible and we hope and pray for a resolution quickly.”

Stephens said in Facebook comments that he had killed 15 people in the area of 105 freeway in the Cleveland.

It was originally reported that the killing had been streamed live on Facebook but the social media company later confirmed that the video was pre-recorded and later uploaded to the site.

Hospitals in Cleveland were on standby as the manhunt for the 185cm tall Stephens, who is described as having a full beard, wearing a dark-striped polo shirt at the time of the shooting and driving a white or cream-coloured SUV.