After Philadelphia Police issued a request for information on a group of juveniles who beat a 73-year-old man to death with a traffic cone, two brothers, ages 10 and 14, have turned themselves in.
The group of seven adolescents can be seen following James Lambert Jr. down the street in the horrifying video before swinging a cone at the back of his head.
The vicious mob even recorded themselves carrying out the assault in the wee hours of June 24 on Philadelphia’s Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
Despite the fact that two boys handed themselves in to the homicide unit yesterday, no official charges have yet been brought.
Police have not disclosed their identities and are still looking for information on the other five gang members.
Larry Krasner, the district attorney for Philadelphia, predicted that charges of murder would be brought against the young people involved.
This is a really active inquiry, things are happening hour by hour, he told CBS.
The video shows Lambert tumbling to the ground after being struck in the back of the head with a traffic cone.
The group then encircles him, and one of the females takes up the cone once again and throws it at him just as he tries to stand up.
The youths then pursue him away from the camera, and as they disappear from view, the female again grabs the cone and strikes him.
According to the police, Lambert had multiple head injuries. He was taken to a local hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Lambert’s family expressed their sorrow at his passing and profound shock that some young people were supposedly responsible.
Lambert’s niece Tania Stephens said to Fox 29 Philadelphia: “I simply don’t know what’s going on in our city.”
“It’s absolutely inconceivable that someone who has traveled that journey for 60 or 70 years of their life should pass away like that.”
“I don’t understand how kids your age are out committing crime at two in the morning.
“Where were the parents? Those cones are heavy, and to lift one up with such vigor and toss it twice at the skull of an elderly person while laughing about it.”
Elsie Stephens, the sister of Lambert, has made a sincere appeal for the other youths involved to come forward.
“Let them give themselves in, turn yourselves in, how can you let us suffer like this,” she reportedly said CBS. You removed him from us.
For information that results in the arrest and conviction of each defendant, a $20,000 reward has been given.
Five further criminals, described by the Philadelphia Police Department as two black males and three black females in their early to mid-teens, are still at large.
Police released further footage showing the minor suspects, four boys and three girls, who they thought to be between the ages of 13 and 17, in addition to the video of the incident.
One of the male suspects was riding his scooter the entire time, while another had a blonde patch in his hair.
Another alleged attacker appeared to be fumbling around, seemingly recreating the moment Lambert collapsed to the ground during the attack.
Although authorities claimed that one of the suspects also looked to be recording the incident on their phone, they have not yet discovered any social media videos of the assault.
The district attorney’s office would make the ultimate determination, according to the police, who did not clarify what charges the teenagers would face.
Call the Philadelphia Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334 or 215-686-3333 if you have any information.
When compared to the same period in 2021, total crime in Philadelphia has increased by more than 25% so far this year.
While the number of murders and rapes has significantly decreased this year, the number of assaults has only decreased marginally, from 2,522 instances last year to 2,485 so far this year, a decrease of 1.47 percent.
In the meantime, there have been 5.51 percent more shooting victims, with police reporting 1,168 cases this year compared to 1,107 occurrences last year.
The most significant increase has been in robberies, with 1,427 incidents reported this year, up 21.55 percent from the 1,174 cases reported in 2016.
Lambert passed away just four days before Jailene Holton, 21, was reportedly shot and killed at the Philly Bar and Restaurant on June 28 by Anthony Nelson, 47, of Philadelphia.
Nelson is accused of opening fire after he was expelled from the location after being informed that a league game would prevent him from using a pool table.
The trio of three guys were forced to leave following a struggle with a bouncer, at which point one of them rushed to fetch a gun from their car.
Holton was hit in the head by a bullet while standing at the back of the pub after more than a dozen shots were fired from a distance of less than 200 feet.
The Philadelphia Police Department is also looking into gunshots that injured two event security personnel when it erupted during the city’s Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza.
After being taken to Jefferson Hospital in stable condition, officers Sergio Diggs, 36, and John Foster, 44, were released early on Tuesday morning.
Foster, a member of the Montgomery County Bomb Squad, was shot in the shoulder, and Diggs, a highway patrol officer, had a grazing wound to the head as a result of the incident.
Police are still undecided as to whether the shootings were an accident caused by celebratory gunfire ricocheting and hitting the guys or if they were a premeditated attack on the city’s officers.
Similar to the Lambert attack, Philadelphia police are offering a $20,000 reward for information that results in a suspect’s capture.