Within a few million years of this major turning point in Earth history, the seas were swarming with myriad forms of life, swimmers, prowlers, sedentary beasts, and burrowers. Roger Lewin
especially: a person who moves through an area or place in a quiet and stealthy way in order to commit a crime
There were reports of a prowler in the neighborhood.
He felt uneasy being out there by himself. No one ever walked in Linden Hills, and he didn't want to be mistaken for a prowler. Gloria Naylor
… she kills him with a shotgun, claiming that in the dark she mistook him for a prowler. Lawrence Eisenberg