He killed a 74-year-old on video. Facebook could have prevented it, lawsuit says

A 74-year-old man had just finished celebrating Easter with his family last year in Cleveland, Ohio, when a stranger approached him on the sidewalk.

“Here’s somebody I’m about to kill,” 37-year-old Steve Stephens, the stranger, said as he approached Robert Godwin on April 16, CNN reports. “I’m about to kill this guy right here. An old dude.”

Moments later, Stephens did just that, killing Godwin, according to police. Stephens captured video as he fired a gun at Godwin, and then he uploaded the footage to Facebook. Stephens’ video of the shooting was shared broadly for hours before it was taken down by Facebook, CNN reports.

Police searched for Stephens for two days and when they were closing in on him, he committed suicide, Cleveland.com reports.

But Godwin’s family now says Facebook should have reported Stephens to police before the shooting, according to a lawsuit filed Jan. 19 in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Facebook knew, the lawsuit says, that “one of their users, Steve Stephens, had engaged in criminal conduct by making intimidating and coercive threats of violence.” Still, the lawsuit says, the company didn’t report Stephens to police prior to the shooting.

The lawsuit accuses Facebook of negligence, failure to warn and wrongful death, Fox 8 reports. It asks for “an amount in excess of $25,000” for compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney fees and more.

Before the shooting, Stephens had posted on Facebook about being at his “breaking point” and threatening “murder s--t,” the lawsuit says.

“FB you have minutes to tell me why shouldn be on death row!!!!” Stephens wrote before shooting Godwin, according to the lawsuit. “dead serious #teamdeathrow.”

The lawsuit Godwin’s family has filed against Facebook names Stephens’ estate as a defendant in addition to Facebook. It also quotes a statement that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made after the death was broadcast on his platform.

“We have a lot more to do here,” Zuckerberg said, according to the lawsuit. “We’re reminded of this this week by the tragedy in Cleveland. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Robert Godwin Sr. We have a lot of work and we will keep doing all we can to prevent tragedies like this from happening.”

Facebook also released a statement to Fox 8 commenting on the lawsuit Monday.

“We want people to feel safe using Facebook, which is why we have policies in place prohibiting direct threats, attacks, serious threats of harm to public and personal safety and other criminal activity,” Natalie Naugle, Facebook’s associate general counsel, told the TV station. “We give people tools to report content that violates our policies, and take swift action to remove violating content when it’s reported to us. We sympathize with the victim’s family, who suffered such a tragic and senseless loss.”

The shooting occurred after Stephens got out of his vehicle and walked up to Godwin on Easter Sunday in 2017. Stephens first asked Godwin if he could do him a favor and say the name of his girlfriend, “Joy Lane,” the Washington Post reports. Before the shooting, Stephens had told his mother that he was “mad at his girlfriend,” CNN reports.

“Joy Lane?” Godwin asked.

“Yeah,” Stephens responded, the Post reports. “She’s the reason why this is about to happen to you.”

Lane, Stephens’ long-term partner, told CBS after Godwin’s killing that she was “sorry that all of this has happened.”

“We had been in a relationship for several years,” Lane wrote to CBS in a text message. “He was kind and loving to me and my children.”

Stephens was nearly caught on April 18 in Erie, Pa., when staff at a McDonald’s recognized him. But as staff called 911 and tried to keep him at the restaurant by telling him his fries weren’t ready yet, Stephens drove away, The New York Times reports. Police then chased after Stephens, but “Stephens pulled a pistol and shot himself in the head,” state police said.

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 9:00 PM with the headline "He killed a 74-year-old on video. Facebook could have prevented it, lawsuit says."