You might remember the story from Philadelphia where a group of young kids all attacked an elderly man with a traffic cone, eventually killing him. Well, two members of this group have turned themselves in – and you won’t believe how young they were.
The two kids who turned themselves in on Monday were brothers, ages 10 and 14. That’s such a young age to already be lost to this world of darkness.
The video footage shows a group of kids attacking an elderly man for seemingly no reason with a traffic cone. In the footage, we can see that there were at least seven youngsters who attacked and killed the 73-year-old man.
Last week, authorities released the footage showing the horrible events that night and asked the public for help in identifying the murderers in the video – offering a $20,000 reward for any info leading to the capture of the youngsters in question.
A 10-year-old child and his mother were seen leaving police custody with the family’s lawyer on Monday. The mother refused to answer any questions or make any comments to any journalists, but the lawyer gave a quick statement on their behalf.
“They were normal kids. Do you remember when you snuck out of your house?” she continued. “It’s a very sad situation for all of the children, for the man’s family, and everybody involved. These are children, let’s let them have their peace.”
Well, I do remember sneaking out of the house when I was young, and I, nor the majority of individuals doing this, were out killing people.
The victim’s older sister, Elsie Stephens, pleaded openly for the people involved to come forward and turn themselves in saying: “It’s so evil, how could you do that to a person? You have a mother and a father; how could you just beat a man until you take off half of his skull?” adding “How can they sleep? I can’t sleep, I’m having nightmares.”
The 73-year-old who was killed was James Lambert. According to the video footage he was seen strolling across Cecil B. Moore Ave close to North 21st St around 2:38 a.m. minding his own business. That’s when he was soon trapped between a group of seven people and the crime occurred.
In the video released, you can see the first person to Lambert can be seen striking the man who is blurred in the video so that it’s not so graphic. He was hit with a traffic cone, and as he left the frame the gathering on the opposite side of the road can be seen going over to the cone, picking it up, and throwing it at Lambert again.
At that point, Lambert tries to escape and drags himself to the sidewalk but is pursued by a young person holding a cone over his head.
Police said that the kids in this video hit Lambert several times with objects, knocking him down to the ground and causing head injuries. He was eventually taken to the hospital where they tried to treat him, but he sadly died of his injuries the next morning.
This is a tragic event all around, but the worst part, aside from the death, is that kids – as young as ten – are involved. Parents should have been able to teach their kids a good amount of morals and common sense by that point. Sure, kids will be kids, but killing people isn’t a part of being a kid.
The city’s offer for the $20,000 reward still stands as they continue to investigate and look for the other people involved in this case.
This story syndicated with permission from For the Love of News