"It appears to be related to some information that has been put on social media that an exception has been taken to. But that could change, there could be a lot more to that, and I expect there will be."
During the confrontation one of the residents received a minor cut to his arm, but no shots were fired, Mr Sutton said. The incident escalated "pretty quickly". The armed offenders squad was not called out, but reinforcements from the Hutt were deployed, he said. About six officers attended, but both offenders had fled by the time police arrived.
A Carterton man in his 20s received a minor cut to his arm during the confrontation, but did not require medical assistance.
Mr Sutton said he was unable to comment on the nature of the threats made, because police had yet to interview all parties.
"There's still a lot more that we are investigating and a lot more that we need to find out ourselves."
Both groups were known to each other and the incident was not believed to be gang-related. Police believed there was no threat to the public's safety, Mr Sutton said.
"We've made an assessment that there's no risk to the general public but we will be doing our best to make sure that it remains that way."
It was likely that charges would be laid against the man in custody, Mr Sutton said.
