A three-day manhunt in a fatal shooting that garnered intense attention after a video of it was posted on Facebook ended on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 with a brief car chase and the suspect shooting and killing himself, the authorities said.
The episode came to a close near Erie, Pa., about 100 miles east of Cleveland, where the authorities said the suspect, Steve W. Stephens, shot a 74-year-old man at random on Sunday.
Pennsylvania State Police got a tip that Mr. Stephens’ vehicle, a white Ford Fusion, was in the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant. When he left the lot, troopers tried to pull him over around 11 a.m., Chief Calvin D. Williams of the Cleveland Police Department said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.
After a short pursuit, Mr. Stephens pulled over and shot himself; he died at the scene, Chief Williams said.
Steve Stephens was spotted this morning by PSP members in Erie County. After a brief pursuit, Stephens shot and killed himself.
— PA State Police (@PAStatePolice) April 18, 2017
Mr. Stephens encountered the police after stopping at the McDonald’s on Buffalo Road in Erie County, where employees at the restaurant recognized him as he used the drive through to order food.
Henry Sayers, the restaurant’s manager, said in an interview that Mr. Stephens bought a 20-piece order of Chicken McNuggets and a large order of French fries for $5.35 at the drive-through.
Mr. Stephens was given his order of McNuggets, but workers tried to make him wait by holding on to his French fries while calling the police after one of the workers recognized him as the subject of the manhunt.
“But he just took his nuggets and said, ‘I have to go,’ and he drove off,” Mr. Sayers said, adding that Mr. Stephens did not speed away but left the restaurant at a normal clip.
Read more at The New York Times.
