‘Backblock’ Gang Member Richard Pridgen also charged with carjacking a day before the homicide
HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday — in conjunction with the Philadelphia Police Department, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the 53rd Statewide Investigating Grand Jury — announced charges against a man regarding a 2023 homicide in north Philadelphia.
This is the third separate murder case — all being prosecuted by the Office of Attorney General — against 21-year-old Richard Pridgen stemming from 2023 killings.
Regarding charges filed Wednesday, Pridgen is charged with shooting George Smith to death while Smith was standing in the 2400 block of North 17th Street on April 22, 2023.
Pridgen, a member of the “Backblock” gang, is serving a federal prison sentence for another carjacking, and is charged with two other homicides in Philadelphia.
“There are public dangers, and then there is Richard Pridgen — for whom killing, stealing, and harming people is a way of life,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Thanks to collaboration with our partners, and the diligence of the grand jurors, we have built yet another case that should keep him out of free society for the rest of his days.”
“Protecting our communities from violent criminals is ATF’s core mission,” said Eric DeGree, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Philadelphia Field Division. “Working with the Philadelphia Police Department and Pennsylvania Attorney General, and using ATF’s unique forensic capabilities, we continue to take shooters and violent offenders off Philadelphia’s streets and drive down the city’s homicide rate.”
“George Smith’s life mattered, and his family deserves justice,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel said. “This case is another example of what can be accomplished when investigators remain committed and law enforcement partners work as one. I am grateful to the Attorney General’s Office, ATF, our homicide investigators, and the grand jurors for their tireless work. We will continue to pursue those who drive violence in our neighborhoods – and we will never stop working for the families left behind.”
The murder occurred a few minutes before 11:30 p.m. when the 27-year-old Smith was ambushed on a street sidewalk by two individuals who jumped out of a vehicle being operated by a third person. Video evidence showed one of these individuals, alleged to be Pridgen, standing over Smith and continuing to fire rounds into his lifeless body before jumping back into the vehicle.
That vehicle was later determined to have been taken at gunpoint from its owner the previous day when two armed and masked males jumped out of a white vehicle (while a third person remained in that vehicle) and ordered the owner out of the vehicle near 2500 E. Monmouth Street in Philadelphia.
Following a recommendation by the grand jury, Philadelphia Police Department charged Pridgen on Wednesday with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy (murder), robbery of a motor vehicle, violations of the Uniformed Firearms Act, and related offenses.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorneys General Maggie Hayes-Oberst and Helen Park.
Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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