A Carrollton man was arrested on an assault charge last week after swinging a knife at his neighbor in what investigators are calling a “Halloween prank gone wrong,” New Orleans police said.

Around 6:20 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, a woman stepped out of her home in the 1900 block of Fern Street (near Cohn Street), when a neighbor, 31-year-old Hugo Urrea Jr., jumped out from behind a car with a knife, said Lt. Jennifer Dupree of the NOPD Second District investigations unit. Urrea swung the knife at the woman and yelled “It’s Halloween, bitches!”, frightening the neighbor so badly she retreated inside to call police, Dupree said.

Urrea, who was not masked, may have meant the incident as a joke, Dupree said. Threatening someone with a knife or other weapon is how state law defines assault, however, so Urrea’s “Halloween prank gone wrong” constitutes a crime against the woman, Dupree said.

“She was scared, so she wanted to press charges,” Dupree said.

Urrea was arrested that night and remains in jail Friday morning on four counts of aggravated assault, according to the Orleans Parish jail online records.