PHILLY KILLERS
Kin mourn old-timer beaten to death Who does this? Anyone normal doesn’t beat up and kill a senior citizen walking down the street.
The niece of an elderly man viciously beaten to death by seven teens in Philadelphia said she and her large extended family are still in shock over losing the man they called “Simmie.”
“I’m sick to my stomach over this,” said Tania Stephens, 63, about the killing of her uncle, James Lambert, 73, who was attacked by teenaged thugs who hit him repeatedly with traffic cones just after 3 a.m. on June 14 as he was walking across Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
“We all can’t stop crying. Who does this? Anyone normal doesn’t beat up and kill a senior citizen walking down the street. Simmie didn’t deserve this,” Stephens said Saturday.
Disturbing video of the incident, released by police Friday, shows Lambert trying to walk away from the teens as they follow him and knock him to the ground with a cone. He tries to pick himself up and flee but gets knocked down again while some of the teens smile and laugh.
Lambert, who lived his entire life in Philadelphia, was taken to a local hospital where he died the following day from his injuries, police said.
Stephens told The Post that she grew up with several generations of her family, including her uncle in a big house in the Fairmount section of the city. Many family members still live within blocks of each other.
Her uncle, who was retired from construction work, “stepped up” to help her mother care for her and her 10 siblings when Stephens was 12 and her father died, she said.
He and his sister, Tania’s mother, Elsie Lambert Stephens, 85, were still so close that “Simmie” often went to her house for dinner. The family gathered every Thanksgiving at Elsie’s house, as well.
“Everyone would always ask, ‘Where’s Simmie, has Simmie got here yet?’ ” Stephens recalled. “He just had this swagger, this cool. And he always dressed like he was out of GQ.”
Lambert never married, but had two daughters and three grandsons, Stephens said. He overcame a heroin addiction in the 1960s.
Lambert was at Elsie’s house for dinner just hours before he was attacked.
“My mom gave him his platter,” Stephens said. “She gave him barbecued chicken, some mac and cheese and a dinner roll. She told him, you’re late, there’s no sides left.”
Stephens doesn’t know why her uncle was out so late the night he was killed, but she said his walk was on a route he often took.
None of the teenagers seen on video attacking Lambert had been arrested as of Saturday. The Philadelphia Police Department is offering a $20,000 reward for information.
Tania Stephens, niece of victim James Lambert (left)