Angela Smalls and her children stood in the same spot on E. 93rd St. on Monday, where the father of two of her children was murdered the day before.
“He took my kids’ father from them and you’re still breathing out here? My babies are hurting,” Smalls told a crowd of friends and neighbors, crying. “Let them get some peace. Just turn yourself in, please.”
Raw emotion from people who live near Sunday's murder of #RobertGodwin, more on @WEWS 11pm. https://t.co/QDygdHMj9y pic.twitter.com/umFnfhaWPe
— Derick Waller News 5 (@derickwallerTV) April 18, 2017
James Kidd organized a gathering to remember Godwin, but also to get neighbors in his Glenville community behind a rebirth. Kidd knows the dilapidated houses and vacant lots might have attracted a killer.
“It would help if, instead of a gated off area, this were a park because more people would have been out because honestly, let’s be real. This man didn’t do this to a group of young thuggish looking kids standing on the corner, or adults or men, or women,” Kidd said. "He did it to a helpless man who was walking in, as your cameras can see, show nothing.”
Longtime neighbor Tanya Robinson had a more immediate concern.
“Until he’s caught, we are not safe. We don’t know where he’s at,” Robinson told News 5.
"That man could have been my father,” Robinson said, sobbing. "That man could have been me because I walk these streets. That man could have been a child. We don’t know.”
The manhunt
Stephens is described as being just over 6 feet tall, weighing about 244 pounds. He is bald with a full beard. The FBI is also assisting in the search.
Cleveland police confirmed to News 5 Monday that Stephens had a concealed carry permit.
Police say the suspect's vehicle is a white Ford Fusion with temporary tag E363630.
