BANGOR – Bangor police arrested an armed teenager early Thursday morning, averting a situation that could have turned deadly after the youth forced his way into an apartment and demanded money and drugs at gunpoint.

“This could have been turned into a really bad situation,” Detective Sgt. Chip Hodges of the Bangor Police Department said Thursday.

The 16-year-old, who police would only say was from Indian Island, was armed with a handgun and wearing a mask when he forced his way into the Hammond Street apartment shortly after midnight and demanded drugs and money from several people inside.

He was in the process of pointing the gun at one of the people inside and making his demands when police arrived.

Officers converged on the apartment building, which extends above and behind the Fairmount Hardware store. They confronted the youth and took him into custody without injury.

The teenager was charged with robbery and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, Hodges said.

A hearing to determine whether to charge the teenager as an adult is expected to be held, Deputy Police Chief Peter Arno said Thursday.

The investigation is continuing, including whether drugs or other people were involved, according to police. Arno said there was nothing to suggest that others were involved, but that investigators weren’t discarding the possibility.

“We can’t completely close the door on that possibility,” Arno said.