--- description: McDonald's employees in Pennsylvania tried to stall the Cleveland murder suspect when he stopped to order food during a manhunt title: McDonald's Employees Stalled Facebook Killer by Making Him Wait for Fries image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3a5b492355c8b35/6988c3048e0601d864469f59/facebook-shooting_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # McDonald's Employees Tried to Stall Facebook Killer by Making Him Wait for Fries  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 18, 2017 11:15 PM CUT  This undated photo provided by the Cleveland Police shows Steve Stephens, a homicide suspect, who broadcast the fatal shooting of another man live on Facebook on Sunday, April 16, 2017. This undated photo provided by the Cleveland Police shows Steve Stephens, a homicide suspect, who broadcast the fatal shooting of another man live on Facebook on Sunday, April 16, 2017.Cleveland Police—AP  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 18, 2017 11:15 PM CUT McDonald’s employees in Pennsylvania tried to stall the man accused of [killing an elderly stranger in Cleveland](http://time.com/4744315/steve-stephens-facebook-cleveland-dead-suicide/?iid=sr-link2 "undefined") when the suspect stopped to order food at the fast-food chain in the midst of a manhunt. A McDonald’s employee who recognized [Steve Stephens](http://time.com/4742204/steve-stephens-cleveland-shooting-facebook/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined") told the [Erie _Times-News_](http://www.goerie.com/news/20170418/police-no-direct-knowledge-of-ping-from-stephens-phone "undefined") that he called state police and waited before handing Stephens his complete drive-through order of 20 chicken nuggets and fries. “We told him his fries were going to be a minute,” Henry Sayers, the manager of the Erie County restaurant, told the [_Times-News_](http://www.goerie.com/news/20170418/police-no-direct-knowledge-of-ping-from-stephens-phone "undefined"). “I am pretty sure he figured out that we were on to him,” said Thomas DuCharme Jr., owner and operator of the McDonald’s, according to the [_Times-News_](http://www.goerie.com/news/20170418/police-no-direct-knowledge-of-ping-from-stephens-phone "undefined")_. “_He didn’t want to wait for his fries.” Stephens, 37, drove away without them, and he was [confronted by police](http://time.com/4744315/steve-stephens-facebook-cleveland-dead-suicide/?iid=sr-link2 "undefined") about five miles away. He shot and killed himself after law enforcement officials attempted to confront him. Stephens is accused of fatally shooting 74-year-old [Robert Godwin Sr](http://time.com/4744775/facebook-murder-victim-robert-godwin-steve-stephens-suicide/ "undefined"). at random on Sunday and then sharing the footage on Facebook. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4745663/facebook-killer-steve-stephens-mcdonalds/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4745663/facebook-killer-steve-stephens-mcdonalds/"},"headline":"McDonald's Employees Tried to Stall Facebook Killer by Making Him Wait for Fries","datePublished":"2017-04-18T23:15:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:29:03.608Z","description":"Steve Stephens shot and killed himself Tuesday during a police pursuit","url":"https://time.com/4745663/facebook-killer-steve-stephens-mcdonalds/","keywords":["Crime","Pennsylvania","Ohio","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3a5b492355c8b35/6988c3048e0601d864469f59/facebook-shooting_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3a5b492355c8b35/6988c3048e0601d864469f59/facebook-shooting_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Facebook Shooting","caption":"Facebook Shooting","creditText":"Cleveland Police—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4745663/facebook-killer-steve-stephens-mcdonalds/","name":"McDonald's Employees Tried to Stall Facebook Killer by Making Him Wait for Fries"}}]}] ```