Killing of Robert Godwin

On April 16, 2017, 74-year-old Robert Lee Godwin Sr. (September 7, 1942 – April 16, 2017) was shot and killed with a firearm while walking in the Glenville neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The perpetrator, identified as 37-year-old Steve Stephens, posted a cellphone video of the shooting on his Facebook account, leading many media outlets, both during the manhunt and afterward, to dub Stephens the "Facebook killer". A warrant was issued for Stephens for aggravated murder. Two days later, he died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound when cornered by police in Erie County, Pennsylvania.

The shooting happened at around 2:00 p.m. EDT on April 16, 2017 (Easter Sunday), in the 600 block of East 93rd Street in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood. Godwin, while walking around the streets, was carrying a bag to collect littered cans. Stephens uploaded a video of the event. Seconds before the shooting, Stephens exited his car, approached the victim and then asked Godwin to, "Say Joy Lane", the name of a woman with whom Stephens had been in a romantic relationship. Stephens then said "She's the reason why this is about to happen to you", before fatally shooting Godwin, who fell to the ground after he was shot. Facebook said the video was uploaded to the website after the fact, not livestreamed as initially reported. In other Facebook posts, Stephens claimed responsibility for 13 murders, but police said they were not aware of any other victims.

On May 3, 2017, Facebook announced that it was adding additional personnel to its "global community operations" team to proactively screen Facebook Live content for violent and other inappropriate content. The new reviewers "will also help us get better at removing things we don't allow on Facebook like hate speech and child exploitation", Zuckerberg said.

On September 2, 2017, a section of East 146th Street in Cleveland (where Godwin lived most of his adult life) was renamed "Robert Godwin Sr. Way" as a posthumous honor of his life and legacy in the neighborhood.

Steve William Stephens (December 10, 1979 – April 18, 2017) worked as a vocational specialist at Beech Brook, a behavioral health agency for children and families. He was wearing his work ID badge and repeatedly mentioned Beech Brook in multiple videos on the day of the murder. Police confirmed there was no known connection between Godwin and Stephens prior to the shooting and that Godwin was selected at random. Stephens' mother was quoted as having told authorities that Stephens told her by phone he was "shooting people" because he was "mad with his girlfriend" of about three years, who was confirmed to be safe and was cooperating with investigators at the time.