Crime is a terrifying thing. Especially when it’s 12:00 a.m. and a murderer is on the loose, supposedly last seen at apartments that are two minutes away from your home.
That’s how my Easter Sunday went, anyway. “Stevie Steve” decided to live broadcast himself killing an innocent man on Facebook live this past Easter Sunday. The incident happened in Cleveland, about a 20 minute drive from my home. Not only did Stevie Steve kill this old man, but a video of him shooting the man dead was posted onto his Facebook page, which was later taken down, but still available on many different Internet archives for the world to see.
(Photo courtesy of https://pattarapornmuenlek.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/picture1.jpg)
People in the area were informed to be aware of a white Ford Fusion, and that is what began the craziness. Thank you and not so much thank you to social media for scaring the living hell out of me, along with a lot of my friends in the area that day.
Social media was going crazy and exploding on all different outlets, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and that’s only to name a few. The news about Stevie Steve spread earlier in the day, around noon, and rumors took off shortly after that. According to Twitter, Stevie Steve in his white Ford Fusion was seen on a road in Chesterland, aka my best friend’s city, but at the same time he was also in Mentor, about 20 minutes away from Chesterland.
My Chesterland friend, KC, immediately locked all of her doors and windows while babysitting her two younger siblings and brought them to the basement to hide. In that moment, it hadn’t hit me yet and I didn’t think there was any possible way Stevie Steve would come into contact with anybody I knew.
And then it was around midnight and I laid in bed, scrolling through both Facebook and Twitter. According to one of my friends on Facebook, Stevie’s car was found in the apartment complex two minutes away from my house. I immediately jumped out of bed and made sure all of the doors were locked, but then ran at full force back to my room to hide. I checked Twitter again and news outlets were warning people in surrounding states to be aware, therefore making me believe that he wasn’t actually seen at those apartments.
Social media can be both a blessing and a curse. Rumors spread like wildfire and this one incident is just one reason why you shouldn’t believe everything you hear, especially when posted on the Internet.
(Photo courtesy of http://boston.somelab.net/images/twitter_rumor_vector.png)