Chucky-mask-wearing suspect unmasked as Zymire Hughes after allegedly asking jogger ‘are you ready to die?’
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A Chucky-doll-mask-wearing suspect who allegedly terrorized Philadelphia this week has been unmasked by cops as he remains on the run.
“The masked suspect sought in the 8/12 assaults near 15th & JFK has been identified as Zymire Hughes, 22,” the Philadelphia Police Department stated in a post on X.
An arrest warrant is active, and authorities believe he may have fled Pennsylvania. He has ties to California and Nevada, according to Philadelphia PD.
“We’ve received information he has a tendency to travel back and forth to the West Coast, California, the L.A. area, but also Las Vegas, for employment reasons,” police said.
The suspect entered a Dunkin’ Donuts wearing the terrifying mask just after 5:20 a.m. last Wednesday, but was refused service due to his erratic behavior, according to authorities.
Hughes then allegedly ran up to people at nearby locations while filming the interactions, before harassing a female jogger, asking her, “are you ready to die?”
“He’s holding his cell phone up in front of her, at which time he asks her ‘Are you ready to die?’” Philadelphia Police Captain Jason Smith said, describing the woman’s encounter.
“[She] appears startled, at which time the male asks her again, ‘Are you ready to die?’ Clearly she’s not ready to die, so she takes off,” Smith added, revealing she hurt her leg trying to flee and was “screaming for help.”
Hughes faces charges of terroristic threats, harassment, assault, reckless endangerment and intimidation.
The alleged fiend will also face a weapons charge as his right arm was behind his back when he threatened the jogger — despite no weapon being seen in surveillance footage from the scene.
Jameka, a witness, said she tried to warn the jogger, telling WPVI: “I started to wave at her from across the intersection and say, ‘Hey there’s someone behind you, look behind you’.”
She claims she kicked the brute in the chest, disorienting him.
“He just seemed so disoriented about what his goals actually were. I had bags; he wasn’t reaching for those,” she said.
“It didn’t seem like he had a clear goal to like actually get in La Colombe [a coffee shop] to do anything, so I was like OK, well, let’s see if you can fight, and he couldn’t.”
A manhunt is underway, with Smith insisting earlier this week, “Trust me when I tell you this… we’re not going to do our darnedest to try and locate this individual? You bet we are.”