Man Wearing Chucky Mask Terrorizes Philadelphia City
A man in a Chucky mask spread real life horror on the streets of Center City, Philadelphia two weeks ago.
Philadelphia resident Jameka encountered the masked man the morning of August 12th around 5:30 a.m. She witnessed him advancing on an unaware female jogger near City Hall. She waved her arms frantically, trying to get the woman’s attention. She yelled to the runner that someone was following her, and to turn around. When she did, the unidentified jogger saw a man pursuing her in a Chucky mask from the Child’s Play horror franchise.
He held up his cell phone in front of the jogger and asked her “Are you ready to die?”
Seeing Jameka was trying to warn the runner of his pursuit, the man then turned his attention to her. Changing courses he came face to face with her, but he had another thing coming. Jameka delivered a kick to his chest. He stumbled backwards, disorientated, then turned around and ran. She told a reporter;
“… so I was like OK, well, let’s see if you can fight, and he couldn’t.”
A real life final girl with sass!
Police Response
Police took the events that transpired on the morning of August 12th very seriously. On the morning of Monday, August 17th they held a press conference to alert the public and inform them of what they knew.
Philadelphia Police Capt. Jason Smith explained;
“He was holding his cellphone in front of her, at which point he asked her, ‘Are you ready to die?’ The female is screaming for help this entire time,” Smith said. The “male abruptly stops and heads northbound on 15th Street, at which point he gets on the escalators at Suburban Station.”
Captain Smith also disclosed the timeline of horrific events on the morning of August 12th. Additionally, he released the footage of the masked man chasing the jogger. That’s all it took. Now everyone was wondering the identity of the Chucky mask wearing assailant.
Authorities released a phone number for tips. They also listed the charges the yet unidentified man would be facing; including terroristic threats, harassment, simple assault and intimidation.
Behind the Mask, he’s Just a Human
This isn’t the first time someone has used a fictional horror character to hide their nefarious activities. Many assailants have worn masks from the genre to hide their identity in the commission of their crimes, even murder.
It was a little more than a week after the initial incident when the man hiding behind the Chucky mask was identified. Philly police released a statement on Thursday, August 27th that they had identified the suspect as Zymire Hughes.
“UPDATE: The masked suspect sought in the 8/12 assaults near 15th & JFK has been identified as Zymire Hughes, 22. An arrest warrant is active. Hughes may have fled PA and has ties to California and Nevada. We’re working with the U.S. Marshals to bring him back to face justice.”
District Attorney Larry Krasner doubled down when addressing a news conference regarding Hughes;
“You think it’s funny to scare people? Well, get ready to get scared by us because we got the handcuffs, we got the jail cell, we got the Philly jury that’s going to tell you it’s not funny at all,”
The police suspect the masked Hughes was doing it all for social media fame.
“I believe that he was doing this purely for social media content – either A, for his own sick personal amusement, or B, he had plans of posting it online at some point, and possibly monetizing it,” said Philadelphia Police Capt. Jason Smith.
If anyone has information about Hughes’ whereabouts, please get in touch with the Philadelphia Police Central Detectives Division at 215-686-3093 or 3094
iHorror will keep you updated once there are future developments on Hughes.
