A horror movie seemingly came to life for some people in Philadelphia after a man in a Chucky-style Halloween mask terrorized them.
The masked man is accused of chasing people around City Hall during early morning hours. He’s also been kicked out of businesses.
Philadelphia police said that on Aug. 12 around 5:30 a.m., they received reports of multiple people being chased by a masked figure. According to witnesses, he ran up to multiple people, attempting to scare and antagonize them.
Surveillance video showed a woman, who appeared to be out for a jog, being chased by the masked figure. According to investigators, the suspect asked her, “Are you ready to die?”
In the video, you see the woman run past the camera twice, seemingly trying to get away from the suspect.
Investigators said the individual was making threatening comments while holding his hand behind his back. At one point, the woman fell but managed to escape to a nearby subway station.
‘I was Going to Fight’
One Philly resident told ABC6 the suspect approached her with his phone after the first woman got away.
“I started to wave at her from across the intersection and say, ‘Hey, there’s someone behind you—look behind you!’ And she heard me, and then she started to run away,” Jameka, who asked not to use her last name, said.
She said she also saw the masked man try to force his way into a La Colombe coffee shop before he began chasing her.
“I figured if anything was going to happen, I wanted to see it with my own two eyes,” Jameka said. “So, then I turned around, I started yelling at him, ‘Don’t follow me,’ and screaming at him. Then at that point, I put up my hands as if I was going to fight. I blocked my face, making sure my centerline was protected. And then he also started to put his hands up, but I could tell that he’d never been in a fight before.”
Jameka said she ran away after she kicked him. She added that something seemed off about the man.
“He just seemed so disoriented about what his goals actually were. I had bags; he wasn’t reaching for those. It didn’t seem like he had a clear goal to, like, actually get in La Colombe to do anything, so I was like, OK, well, let’s see if you can fight—and he couldn’t,” she said.
‘We’re Scared’
At least a dozen people were terrorized by the suspect over a roughly-15-minute span that early Wednesday morning around City Hall.
Police said the man could be recording these encounters on his phone.
Philadelphia Police Department Capt. Jason Smith told CBS News the man was holding a cellphone with a light on during the incidents.
“This happened right outside City Hall, so you think we’re not going to do our darndest to try and locate this individual?” Smith said.
Luanda Marinho told CBS News she also encountered the masked suspect while meeting her friend for a morning run.
“He starts asking, ‘Do you guys want to race me? I bet I am faster than you. Want to race me?’ He asked a few times, but none of us acknowledged him. Very weird,” Marinho said.
She added that she couldn’t believe it when she saw the man’s photos on social media.
“We’re scared, so now we’re thinking about changing our routes or changing our schedules, which shouldn’t be an issue,” Marinho told CBS News. “It was just weird, like some twisted game.”
While all the victims were able to get away unharmed, police noted that the suspect approached them with one arm behind his back.
“[Investigators] are scouring social media to see if they come across this individual posting this onling material. It’ll be good for us to make it easier to find him,” Smith said.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to police to ask if the masked suspect has been identified but has not heard back.
