Philadelphia police are searching for a suspect they say has been wearing a Halloween mask and terrorizing women.
No weapon is readily visible in publicly available images from the encounters, but police allege the suspect implied having one at one point.
One woman said she refused to become a victim. When a masked stranger approached her in Center City last Wednesday morning, she squared up and kicked him in the chest.
It happened around 5:15 a.m. near 15th and Broad streets.
Jameka, who didn’t want to share her last name, believes the person who targeted her is the same suspect police say was caught on camera chasing a woman outside City Hall minutes earlier.
Before her own encounter, Jameka said she spotted the masked suspect approaching a runner who was wearing earphones.
“I started to wave at her from across the intersection and say, ‘Hey, there’s someone behind you,'” she said.
She then witnessed him try to force his way into the La Colombe coffee shop before turning his attention towards her.
“I figured that, if anything was going to happen, I wanted to see it with my own two eyes,” she said.
Jameka said she turned around, screamed, yelled and put her hands up to fight, but something seemed off about the scary stranger.
“He just seemed so disoriented about what his goals actually were,” she said. “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, ‘Okay, well let’s see if you can fight … and he couldn’t.”
Police said the suspect accosted several people in a 15-minute span.
Philadelphia Police Department Capt. Jason Smith said he spoke to the runner.
“He was holding his cell phone up in front of her at which time he asks her, ‘Are you ready to die?,'” Smith said.
The man fled the scene.
Jameka has a warning for others.
“Make sure you’re not playing music in your headphones,” Jameka said. “Keep your keys in between your fingers. Just do everything you can to make sure you feel safe.”
Police say the suspect, who has not been captured, could face several charges.