{"id":272289,"date":"2026-08-26T02:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T02:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272289\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T02:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T02:42:10","slug":"zymire-hughes-arrested-masked-man-wanted-for-terrorizing-philadelphians-captured-in-las-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272289\/","title":{"rendered":"Zymire Hughes arrested: Masked man wanted for terrorizing Philadelphians captured in Las Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The suspect accused of terrorizing Philadelphia residents <\/a>while wearing a creepy mask has been arrested in Nevada, authorities announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Zymire Hughes,<\/a> 22, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service Nevada Violent Offender Task Force at about 8 p.m. in Las Vegas, according to police. He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center pending extradition to Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Investigators say Hughes chased and harassed people in Center City during the early morning hours of Aug. 15. Police believe he may have been motivated by a desire for social media attention.<\/p>\n

(The video in the player above is from previous coverage.)<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Police Capt. Jason Smith said Hughes encountered as many as 15 or 16 people that morning.<\/p>\n

\"Zymire<\/p>\n

In several incidents, police said Hughes approached victims while wearing what authorities described as a “distinctive Chucky doll-style Halloween mask.”<\/p>\n

The first reported encounter occurred around 5:01 a.m. near 10th and Chestnut streets.<\/p>\n

READ MORE | ‘Who’s scared now?’: Manhunt for masked man accused of terrorizing people in Philadelphia<\/a><\/p>\n

Manhunt for masked man accused of terrorizing people in Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Police said the incidents culminated near City Hall and SEPTA’s Suburban Station shortly before 6 a.m.<\/p>\n

According to investigators, Hughes approached a woman who was jogging near City Hall and asked her, “Are you ready to die?”<\/p>\n

Police said the woman ran away screaming for help and seriously injured her leg while trying to escape.<\/p>\n

RELATED: ‘I was going to fight’: Woman recalls creepy encounter with man wearing Chucky mask in Philadelphia<\/a><\/p>\n

Woman says she kicked the man in the chest after he confronted her while wearing a Chucky mask<\/p>\n

“It’s going to require extensive medical treatment, from what I understand, in order to treat the injuries that she has sustained,” Smith said last week.<\/p>\n

Surveillance video shows Hughes entering Suburban Station around 5:35 a.m., where SEPTA police reportedly asked him to remove the mask. Investigators said he attempted to conceal his identity while moving through the station.<\/p>\n

Police said Hughes continued trying to frighten people before evading officers. Authorities believe he boarded a Route 33 bus at about 5:59 a.m. and traveled to the area of 23rd and Venango streets, where he reportedly lives.<\/p>\n

Officials said Hughes also has ties to California and Las Vegas because of employment.<\/p>\n

Police have said Hughes is wanted on charges including terroristic threats, harassment, simple assault and intimidation.<\/p>\n

WATCH: New videos show suspect wanted for terrorizing Philly residents<\/p>\n

New videos show suspect wanted for terrorizing Philly residents<\/p>\n

Stay with Action News as we continue to follow this developing story.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The suspect accused of terrorizing Philadelphia residents while wearing a creepy mask has been arrested…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[114629,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-272289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-114629","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}