FAIRFIELD — A 25-year-old man was arrested Thursday for allegedly smashing a house window with a billy club in order to unlock a door and get to the people inside.

The man, Matthew Bruce Poulin, of Fairfield, was charged with terrorizing, burglary and violating conditions of release for the incident reported around 10:30 a.m.

Poulin sent threatening text messages to the mother of his child and her boyfriend, Officer Karen O’Donnell said Friday. He then went to the woman’s residence.

Although he smashed the window with a leather sap — a kind of bully club — to open the door, he did not enter, O’Donnell said.

“He was having a domestic dispute with his ex and her boyfriend over the custody of their child,” she said.

Officer William Beaulieu found Poulin a short distance from the house and arrested him without incident.

“No one was injured other than being terrified, to use their words,” O’Donnell said.