14-year-old boy charged in traffic cone beating death of Philly man; 14-year-old girl turns herself in to police

A 14-year-old boy was charged as an adult with third-degree murder in the death of a 73-year-old man whose attack by a group of juveniles was caught on surveillance video last month in North Philadelphia, authorities said Tuesday.

Richard Jones, who is also charged with conspiracy, and his 10-year-old brother surrendered to police for questioning Monday in the June 24 assault on James Lambert Jr. On Wednesday, a 14-year-old girl, who has not yet been identified, also turned herself into police.

The 10-year-old was released and has not been charged, a spokesperson for District Attorney Larry Krasner said in an email.

Under Pennsylvania law, juveniles must be charged as adults for murder.

No further details about Jones were immediately available Tuesday.

An attorney identified by 6ABC as having accompanied the brothers when they surrendered could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

Lambert was crossing Cecil B. Moore Avenue near 21st Street just before 2:40 a.m. on June 24 when a group of juveniles assailed him.

In a surveillance video, one of the participants — police say seven juveniles were involved — can be seen knocking him to the sidewalk with a traffic cone. While Lambert remained on the sidewalk, a girl can be seen in the video picking up the traffic cone and throwing it at Lambert, who then appears to stagger down Cecil B. Moore, followed by the girl, who retrieves the traffic cone and throws it at him again. The video shows the juveniles talking before leaving the area.

Lambert suffered head injuries and later died, police said.

About a month before Lambert was killed, a 53-year-old woman from North Philadelphia said she, too, was ambushed at 21st and Cecil B. Moore. Watching the video of the attack on 73-year-old Lambert on the news, the woman said she recognized one of the teens and thought it “could have been me.” The woman, who spoke to The Inquirer on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said she didn’t contact the police initially about the assault that left her with deep bruises, but called on Friday after hearing about Lambert’s death.

The attack on Lambert occurred 12 days before Mayor Jim Kenney signed a bill implementing an earlier curfew for Philadelphia teens for the rest of the summer.

Under the new curfew, which took effect Thursday, kids age 17 and younger must be indoors and off the streets by 10 p.m.; those 13 and younger must be home by 9:30.