LEWISTON – A teenager was arrested at gunpoint Tuesday after police said she snuck into a group home armed with a lawn- mower blade.

Police said 18-year-old Jessica Byrn, who described herself as homeless, snuck into the youth group home at about 3:30 p.m. looking for another teenager she had fought with in the past.

A staff member and a juvenile occupant of the Pond Road home locked themselves inside a room and called for help after Byrn was seen trying to enter the building, police said.

Police eventually found Byrn inside a kitchen pantry, the roughly 20-inch blade still in her hands. She was arrested on charges of criminal threatening, burglary and violating a harassment order.

Byrn, a former resident at the home, was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail and ordered held without bail.

The drama began when police were told a young woman with dark clothing and a shaved head was knocking at the door of the Pond Road home.

“They could see something large and metallic in her hands,” said Lewiston police Officer Richard Stanton. “They know this girl to be violent.”

Police said when nobody opened the door for her, Byrn began walking around the building, looking in the windows but trying to conceal herself as the people inside the building began to hide. Investigators believe Byrn entered the house through a sliding glass door.

Police arrived moments later and found a staff member in one of the rooms. Stanton and Officer Jane Huffman were told that Byrn was still somewhere inside the building, and they began to search for her.

Police said the 18-year-old was crouched inside a pantry when police pulled the door open. She was ordered to drop the lawn mower blade and to come out of the closet, which she did.

“The officers did a great job,” said police Sgt. Jeff Parshall. “Obviously, this could have turned into something much more serious.”

Police believe Byrn had retrieved the lawn mower blade from a garage next to the group home after taking a cab to Pond Road. They said the teenage girl she had been looking for was on her way to the home as the incident unfolded. It was that teenager police said Byrn had harassed in the past, which resulted in the protection order Byrn is accused of violating.