A man accused of terrorizing at least a half dozen people while wearing a Chucky-style mask near Philadelphia City Hall earlier this month was arrested Tuesday in Las Vegas, authorities said.

Zymire Hughes, 22, was arrested around 8 p.m. at an apartment complex in southeast Las Vegas and is being held in the Clark County Detention Center awaiting extradition back to Philadelphia, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

U.S. Marshals said Hughes has been a Las Vegas resident since February but has family in Philadelphia. They believe Hughes was in the city for a few weeks. He fled Philadelphia on Aug. 19 from Trenton-Mercer Airport in Ewing, New Jersey, to Orlando, Florida, and then took another flight to Vegas, they said.

"By hiding behind a Chucky-style Halloween mask, Hughes terrorized Philadelphia residents and believed he could evade law enforcement. He was wrong," Robert Clark, the Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal for the Eastern Pennsylvania Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force, said. "His arrest should send a clear message: you can hide your face, but you can't hide from the elite investigators of the U.S. Marshal Service."

Hughes allegedly chased and threatened at least six people around City Hall in Center City on Aug. 12 over a roughly 15-minute span, according to police. Investigators claimed Hughes asked one woman if she was "ready to die."

According to police, the threats began around 5:18 a.m. on Aug. 12 at the intersection of 15th and Chestnut streets. Hughes allegedly ran up to multiple people, attempting to scare and antagonize them, police said.

About two minutes later, police said Hughes entered a Dunkin' on the 1500 block of Chestnut Street, but he was refused service for wearing the mask. Hughes left and was later seen on camera running toward people at the southwest corner of Penn Square at City Hall around 5:25 a.m.

Police said Hughes then chased a man on the west side of 15th Street and approached a woman jogging at 15th and Market streets. According to police, Hughes stopped in front of the woman and asked her, "Are you ready to die?" The woman took off and injured her leg, police said.

Hughes fled to Suburban Station after the threats, according to police.

Hughes allegedly had a cellphone with the light on and appeared to film the incidents, Philadelphia Police Capt. Jason Smith previously said.

Clark said Hughes has been charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats and related offenses.



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