McDonald's Order Trips Up Cleveland Facebook Slaying Suspect
ERIE (KDKA/AP) - Facebook slaying suspect Steve Stephens was undone by a 20-piece Chicken McNuggets and an order of fries.
The man who police say shot a Cleveland retiree at random and posted video of the killing on Facebook was recognized by the drive-thru attendant of a McDonald's restaurant outside Erie, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday morning.
When Stephens went through the drive-thru, the employee at the first window recognized him. As he pulled up to the second window, the employee told her supervisor and restaurant owner.
The employee called state police as the manager and owner went to the window to give Stephens his chicken nuggets, but said his fries were going to be another minute. The stall tactic worked.
"Basically just told him it was gonna be a minute for his fries, which it wasn't, really. We were just trying to make sure she could get in contact with state police," restaurant owner Tom Ducharme said.
Responding troopers spotted Stephens leaving the restaurant in Erie and went after him, bumping his car to try to get it to stop, authorities said. He shot himself in the head after the car spun and came to a stop, police said.
The chase ended about 2 miles away.
Police said it wasn't clear whether Stephens had any help while he was on the run or where he had been and that investigators will try to retrace his steps. Stephens' cellphone had been tracked Sunday afternoon near Erie, officials said on Monday.
Pennsylvania State Police says they recovered a Glock Model 30-S .45 caliber pistol from the white Ford Fusion Stephens was driving. They are continuing to process that vehicle as they work to develop a timeline that led up to Stephens capture.
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(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
