Costumed off-duty police officer wounded in Halloween prank

CEDAR LAKE, IND. -- An off-duty police officer who dressed up as an axe-wielding man in what he intended to be a Halloween prank was shot and wounded by a man who believed he posed a threat, investigators said.\nThe shooter fired at Rick Conoway as the St. John police officer emerged from a wooded area and approached a Halloween night bonfire party outside a home, Lake County Sheriff's spokesman Michael Higgins said.\nConoway was taken to a local hospital, where he was listed in stable condition with two gunshot wounds to the face.\nSheriff's authorities, who were still investigating the shooting Sunday, gave this account:\nDaniel Frederick, of Cedar Lake, arrived at the party and was told by people there that police were looking for a man in a gray sweatshirt who was wearing a white mask and carrying an axe. They also said he had been seen running after children in the neighborhood.\nFrederick then returned to his nearby home and picked up a .32 caliber handgun. An hour later, he returned to the party with the gun.\nPartygoers heard dogs barking and saw a man in the woods matching the description of the supposed axe-wielding man, who was actually Conoway playing a joke at the party.\nFrederick yelled at the man that he had a gun, and then fired two rounds into the ground as Conoway approached the partygoers.\nWhen Conoway continued approaching and got to within 10 feet, Frederick shot him twice in the face, investigators said.