A morning run through Center City Philadelphia turned terrifying for one woman after police say a masked man chased her while wearing a Chucky doll-style mask and repeatedly asked, “Are you ready to die?”
The 40-year-old jogger was among roughly six people allegedly targeted at random during a series of early-morning encounters on Aug. 12, Philadelphia Police Captain Jason Smith said at a news conference, according to The New York Post.
Smith said the suspect—described by police as a Black male between 16 and 20 years old—was wearing what authorities called a “Chucky doll Halloween-style face mask.” He was first seen around 5:18 a.m. on Philadelphia streets, allegedly running toward pedestrians, trying to frighten them and recording the incidents on his cellphone, NBC 10 reported.
About two minutes later, the man walked into a Dunkin’ at 15th and Chestnut streets. After employees refused to serve him, police said, he returned outside and continued confronting unsuspecting people.
Investigators said the suspect at one point pursued a man wearing a reflective vest. Minutes later, around 5:33 a.m., he turned his attention to the female jogger as she ran along the east side of 15th Street, Smith said.
“He’s holding his cell phone up in front of her, at which time he asks her ‘Are you ready to die?’” Smith said, according to The New York Post. “[She] appears startled, at which time the male asks her again, ‘Are you ready to die?’ Clearly she’s not ready to die, so she takes off.”
Police also released video showing the man, dressed entirely in black, running behind the woman as she tried to get away.
“The female is screaming for help this entire time,” Smith said, according to WPVI. He added that the suspect then “abruptly stops and heads northbound on 15th Street, at which point he gets on the escalators at Suburban Station.”
During the encounter, the jogger stumbled and sustained an injury, police said in a statement.
Witness Jameka told WPVI that she’d tried to call out and warn the runner, who was wearing headphones.
“I started to wave at her from across the intersection and say, ‘Hey there’s someone behind you, look behind you,’” Jameka explained. “And she heard me, and then she started to run away.”
Jameka said the suspect then tried to force his way into a coffee shop, before turning his attention to her.
She screamed and kicked him in the chest before he ran off.
“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.”
Kate Eagen, another witness at the coffee shop, called the incident “pretty disturbing.”
Police are now asking for the public’s help to find the man, who is wanted for assault.
The suspect is described as 5-foot-8, with a thin build and was carrying a black and blue plaid backpack.
Anyone with information is urged to contact police.
