Philadelphia Police Name Suspect in Chucky-Mask Jogger Chase, Manhunt Now National

Philadelphia police have identified the man accused of terrorizing pedestrians in a Chucky doll mask near City Hall, and they're now hunting for him nationwide.

Zymire Hughes, 22, has an active arrest warrant, Philadelphia police announced Thursday. Police believe Hughes fled Pennsylvania and may be headed toward California or Nevada, according to the LA Times. Philadelphia Police Capt. Jason Smith told a local outlet Hughes "has a tendency to travel back and forth to the West Coast, California, the L.A. area, but also Las Vegas ... for employment reasons." The U.S. Marshals Service is now assisting the search.

The incident happened around 5:18 to 5:30 a.m. on August 12. Surveillance video shows a man in dark clothing wearing a white Chucky-style Halloween mask with black hair, first walking into a Dunkin' Donuts, where staff refused to serve him because of what police described as erratic behavior. He then spent close to 20 minutes approaching strangers near 1500 JFK Boulevard, according to Smith.

The most serious encounter involved a 40-year-old woman jogging near 15th Street. Smith said Hughes held a cellphone toward her face and asked, "Are you ready to die?" When she looked startled, he asked again. She ran, screaming for help, and injured her leg fleeing. Smith said Hughes kept one arm concealed behind his back during the chase, though no weapon has appeared in surveillance footage. He eventually broke off the chase and disappeared into Suburban Station.

Police believe Hughes approached at least six other people that morning, but as of Monday's press briefing the jogger was the only one who had formally filed a report. Smith said the suspect appeared to be filming the encounters on his phone. "There's a clear indication that he's filming this for his own purposes," Smith said, according to Global News. "He's targeting men and women, just whoever he appears to come across."

One bystander, identified only as Jameka, told 6abc Action News she tried to warn the jogger before the chase started, then confronted Hughes herself when he turned toward her. She said she kicked him in the chest. "I figured if anything was going to happen, I wanted to see it with my own two eyes," she told the outlet, describing Hughes as seeming "disoriented about what his goals actually were." Another witness, Luanda Marinho, told CBS News the suspect asked a group of people to race him before anyone reported the jogger incident, calling the whole thing "some twisted game."

Hughes is currently on probation for an unspecified prior offense in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Larry Krasner said at a Thursday news conference, according to Fox News. Krasner did not mince words. "If Zymire Hughes was trying to scare people, make them run. Who's scared now? Who's running now?" he said. "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."

Police say once caught, Hughes will face charges including terroristic threats, harassment, simple assault, reckless endangerment, intimidation and possession of an instrument of crime.

Coverage of this story split sharply along one specific line: physical description. Fox News, the Daily Wire and Breitbart all included police's description of the suspect as a Black male between 16 and 20 years old, thin build, about 5-foot-8, details Philadelphia police themselves put out publicly as part of the original suspect description before Hughes was identified by name. The Independent, LA Times and Global News largely omitted race from their write-ups after Hughes was named, focusing instead on his identity, warrant status and travel history.

Hughes remains at large as of this week. Philadelphia police are asking anyone with information to call 215-686-TIPS, and have warned the public not to approach him directly given the threatening nature of the prior encounters. Whether Hughes is apprehended in California, Nevada, or elsewhere will determine which jurisdiction handles extradition back to Philadelphia, where Krasner's office says it intends to prosecute.