August 26, 2026
Philadelphia Police/YouTube
Police arrested Zymire Hughes, 22, in Nevada Tuesday. Hughes is thought to be the masked man, above, who allegedly harassed people in Center City on Aug. 12.
The Philadelphia man who allegedly terrorized pedestrians in Center City while wearing a Halloween mask was arrested Tuesday night in Las Vegas by the U.S. Marshals Service, police said.
Investigators said they learned Zymire Hughes, 22, had fled Pennsylvania and was hiding in an apartment in the southwest part of Las Vegas. After authorities surveilled him for most of Tuesday, Zymire was arrested without incident.
He is being held at Clark County Detention Center and awaits extradition to Pennsylvania.
Police began investigating Hughes after a 40-year-old woman reported that a man wearing a Chucky-style mask chased her while she was running at 15th Street and JFK Boulevard at 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 12. The woman told police that Hughes made threatening comments while holding a hand behind his back. While attempting to escape, she fell and injured her leg, and the man fled into Suburban Station.
According to police, surveillance footage allegedly shows Hughes approaching multiple people in the area shortly after 5 a.m. Investigators said they believe Hughes attempted to harass 15 people and likely filmed his actions to create a social media post.
In video recovered from Suburban Station, Hughes allegedly can be seen removing the Halloween mask at the request of SEPTA police, revealing a surgical mask underneath. He then left the station and boarded the Route 33 bus, and was seen exiting the vehicle at 23rd and Venango streets, police said. Additional video shows him entering a nearby apartment complex, and he was seen without his mask in surveillance video from the building, allowing investigators to identify him, police said.
