AUGUSTA — A Gardiner man is accused of threatening to shoot people during an incident Saturday night in a Gardiner apartment.

Edwin Lazarus Lawrence, 25, made an initial appearance Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center via video from the Kennebec County jail. He is charged with burglary, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and violation of condition of release. He was ordered held in lieu of $35,000 cash bail.

“The bottom line is, he entered a residence and held several people in the residence — not allowing them to leave — with a firearm, ” said Detective Sgt. Todd Pilsbury, of the Gardiner Police Department, in an interview on Tuesday. “One of the people in the residence was able to get a message to another person as to what was going on. That person called the police.”

According to Pilsbury, Lawrence’s gun was not real, but “a very good replica” that police recovered.

Lawrence knew the people in the home, Pilsbury said, adding that Lawrence was cooperative when police arrived at the scene.

Lawrence threatened to shoot a woman, a man, and a girl at the residence, according to an affidavit by Gardiner police Officer Samuel Quintana that is filed at the court. “The threats were made by Lawrence in an effort to obtain information as to the whereabouts of his drugs,” Quintana wrote.

Another man found at the home, Jesse Knox, told police he hid after an altercation with Lawrence during which Lawrence threated him as well. Knox, 27, also of Gardiner, was arrested on a warrant.

Lawrence was indicted in May 2017 on six charges of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs as well as a charge of refusing to submit to arrest or detention, and the state is seeking forfeiture of $688 cash seized from Lawrence on March 7, 2017, in Augusta.

That indictment lists an address for Lawrence in Manhattan, New York.

Lawrence told police on Saturday that he was involved in a Maine Pretrial Services contract on other charges.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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